A beast of war. Naive art from Ukraine

"A beast of war. Naive art from Ukraine" is a catalog of the exhibition opened in the open art museum of St. Gallen, Switzerland.

"It is extremely pleasant that the most interesting names of the Ukrainian "classical" naïve of the 20th century will be presented in Switzerland in the museum space of the open art museum - Maria Prymachenko, Hryhoriy Ksionz, Panas and Yakylina Yarmolenka, Oleksandra Shabatura, Anna Shabatura, Kateryna Bilokur (her portrait of Oli Bilokur) , Yakiv Yushchenko, Ivan Lysenko, Tetiana Pata, others - writes in the foreword to the catalog Petro Gonchar, director of the Ivan Gonchar Museum. — I hope that the main sources on which many of our naivists grew up and which were often popular will be read in the exposition of the exhibition! Both Prymachenko, the Khomenyuk sisters, and the Petrykiv craftsmen Pata, Vlasenko, and Pylypenko started with folk tradition — embroidery, wall painting, drawings on paper, which decorated the interiors of houses. I am glad that the charming anonymous works of masters from Poltava, Cherkasy, Sumy, Kharkiv, which are rich in Ukrainian folk and naive art and which I especially admire, will also be exhibited. These artists, like icon painters, often did not put their names, did not sign their works, because they did not consider it as important as the drawing itself. They put all their talent and all their soul into their work."

Monika Jagfeld, director of the open art museum, in her introductory speech reflects on the preservation of artistic heritage and the destruction of museums during the war, on the obligation of the international community to protect and preserve cultural heritage for future generations, on Maria Prymachenko as the current icon of Ukrainian art and on Ukrainian art in general, which Western Europe is discovering more and more, but naive, brut remains still terra incognita. "This lack of cultural awareness is eliminated by the exhibition "Beast of War. Naive art from Ukraine" in the city of St. Gallen, curated by Lidia Likhach, RODOVID Gallery, Kyiv. This is the first exhibition of Ukrainian naive art in Switzerland, which is the result of challenges for a better understanding of Ukrainian culture and society. Thanks to the temporary relocation of works from Ukraine, these treasures of art and culture will become visible, they will draw public attention to the need to take measures for the preservation and protection of movable cultural heritage in general and the cultural heritage of Ukraine in particular. Even if the current war situation encourages the preservation of artistic and cultural values from Ukraine, the focus of the exhibition is the cultural identity and rootedness associated with works of art. In the context of war, the exhibition "Beast of War" provides an opportunity to draw society's attention to the relevance and existential need of art, which creates identity," writes exhibition co-curator and museum director Monika Jagfeld.