In posts earlier this year, I’ve written about Mariupol and about a series of books on Socialist Modernism, and this post looks at two new photo albums that bring the two themes together in their celebration of architectural decoration in the city largely from the second half of the Soviet century. They are Mariupolʹ monumentalʹnyĭ (Monumental Mariupol) from 2022 and Usi vidtinky mariupolʹsʹkykh mozaïk (All the colours of Mariupol mosaics) from 2020. Continue reading “Monumental art in Mariupol : the September 2025 Ukrainian item of the month”
Tag: Ukrainian art
Ukrainian design : the March 2025 Ukrainian item(s) of the month
We recently received and catalogued three of the four books published so far of Telegraf, a large-format edition about modern Ukrainian art and design. The first, published in 2021, is called Ukraïnsʹkyĭ dyzaĭn (Ukrainian design), and we hold its second edition. The third book, Voli︠a︡ (Freedom), was published in 2023; on the red page behind its carved cover are the words “abo smertʹ” (or death). The fourth, from 2024, is called Zavtra (Tomorrow). We hope to get hold of a copy of the second book in the series, called Kreatyv u viĭni (Creativity at war).
Continue reading “Ukrainian design : the March 2025 Ukrainian item(s) of the month”
Christmas and Ukraine in Petro Andrusiv’s art : the December 2024 Ukrainian item of the month
Earlier this year, we received a book about the artist Petro Andrusiv (1906-1981). Running to 547 pages and nearly 30 centimetres tall, this large book contains biographical and critical material about Andrusiv as well as giving over half the book to reproductions. Among the reproductions are many Christmas cards, including the two shown here.
Beautiful Ukrainian donations : the April 2024 Ukrainian item(s) of the month
A few weeks ago, we were fortunate enough to receive a donation of five lovely books from the Kharkiv-based publisher Oleksandr Savchook and the organisation Progress-14.
The five donations add to the 12 Savchook titles we had previously bought and which were published between 2014 and 2021. The five new publications, which reflect the core strengths of Mr Savchook’s publishing house in terms of their concentration on the arts, were published in 2022 and 2023 and make very welcome additions to Cambridge’s Ukrainian collection. Continue reading “Beautiful Ukrainian donations : the April 2024 Ukrainian item(s) of the month”
Ukrainian ceramicist Olʹha Rapaĭ-Markish : the January 2024 Slavonic item of the month
The 2018 publication Olʹha Rapaĭ-Markish arrived in Cambridge later that same year but I only recently managed to take a proper look. Olʹha Rapaĭ-Markish (also known as Olʹha Rapaĭ or the anglicised Olha/Olga Rapay), 1929-2012, was a Ukrainian artist most known for her ceramics, large and small, and this book explores her often tragic life and her delightful work. [Note that her father, Peret︠s︡/Peretz Markish, the major Yiddish writer who was shot in Moscow in 1952 during the Night of the Murdered Poets, features in the book, and that we have other books by/about him here.]
It’s impossible to do justice to the book’s reproductions of the artist’s work with only a phone camera, but hopefully the images here give some kind of tempting idea. Rapaĭ-Markish’s work ranged from the large-scale (featuring in and on several buildings in Kyïv) but this book’s reproductions focus more on her small-scale work, especially the wonderful figurines she produced, full of life and joy – and cats (the book includes a photo of the artist with her cat muse). This is our only book about Rapaĭ-Markish’s work, and definitely worth calling up to consult in the UL.
Mel Bach
Vasylʹ Krychevsʹkyĭ
A Twitter post this week from an account drawing attention to Ukrainian art focused on the beautiful work of Vasylʹ Krychevsʹkyĭ (anglicised as Vasyl Krychevsky). Krychevsʹkyĭ was born in the Khar’kiv region in 1873 and became a famed and feted artist in Ukraine, but he left the country after the Second World War and died far from his homeland, in Venezuela, in 1952.
In her entry for Krychevsʹkyĭ in Oxford Art Online, Myroslava M. Mudrak describes how “[t]he pure, harmonious colours of his southern Ukrainian landscapes convey the lyrical atmosphere of his native land”, as shown by the beautiful painting used in the first tweet about his work and reproduced here. The artist’s talents stretched to architecture, stage design, book design, and more. A list of the films to which he was artistic director or consultant can be found on this VUFKU page (in Ukrainian). Continue reading “Vasylʹ Krychevsʹkyĭ”
Ukrainian artists’ response to Russia from 2014
Continue reading “Ukrainian artists’ response to Russia from 2014”
30 rokiv prysutnosti : modern Ukrainian artists
It is rather hard to concentrate on anything other than the unfolding news in Russia, but Russia’s war against Ukraine is still taking lives – plus we should remember that the Putin/Prigozhin disagreement has always, essentially, been about how best to eliminate Ukraine.
So let’s look at 30 rokiv prysutnosti (30 years of presence), a 3-volume introduction to dozens of modern Ukrainian artists, published in 2021 and 2022.
Continue reading “30 rokiv prysutnosti : modern Ukrainian artists”
History of Modern Russian and Ukrainian Art Online
This week, we were able to buy permanent purchase to this long-requested database of Ukrainian and Russian art history books and journals From the supplier’s promotional material:
The collection documents the history of modern Russian and Ukrainian art. It encompasses critical literature, illustrated books, and art periodicals. It also offers a selection of early 20th century art-related serials. These historical sources of pre- and post-revolutionary art reflect the diversity of artistic thought in the first thirty years of the 20th century.
This is hugely welcome news for our researchers, with requests for this database coming in regularly over the years but with enough money to make the purchase only coming now. The books and journal issues were scanned from microfilm, so are all in black and white (as many would of course have been originally), which takes a slight shine off the delight, but our students and academics have been clear that this is a collection Cambridge really needs.
Next week, we will load records for the database’s individual titles into iDiscover, but for the moment you can browse the 140-odd books and 30 or so journals (listed at the end of the page the following link takes you to, under Other) directly on the Brill platform:
*illustrations from Anatolʹ Petryt︠s︡kyĭ’s 1929 Teatralʹni stroï
Mel Bach
English books from Ukrainian publisher Osnovy
This week, a few books arrived that had been recommended by a Ukrainian postgraduate. She made a blanket recommendation for books published by Kyiv-based Osnovy Publishing, who describe their interest as being “visually engaging publications with contemporary, design-forward books on photography, art and culture” and their specialism as “art and books about architecture and cultural phenomena” (from this page).
Continue reading “English books from Ukrainian publisher Osnovy”
Languages across Borders 