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NAMU opens a new exhibition "Helper, companion, friend"

18 december, 2020

On December 19, the National Art Museum of Ukraine opens a new exhibition "Helper, companion, friend", which will present different approaches to the depiction of animals in Ukrainian art of the XIX - early XX centuries. You can watch the broadcast of the exhibition’s presentation by following the link.

Despite the rich fauna of Ukraine, the animalistic genre in its purest form was underdeveloped in the Ukrainian painting of the XIX century. Only a few artists consistently depicted animals - battler Mykola Samokysh, who preferred the image of horses, landscape painter Serhii Svitoslavskyi, whose landscapes included most of the domestic animals of Ukraine and Central Asia, and finally atypical master and eccentric man who lived in Kyiv in the 1880s and called himself "Raphael of Cats" – Valerian Yablochkin. Painters who used images of fauna usually introduced it as part of the composition of domestic or historical themes.
The artworks presented at the exhibition "Helper, companion, friend" truthfully convey the attitude to animals in the XIX – early XX centuries, it reveals the relationship between man and animal of that time. The exhibition will cover art and ethical issues, through popular and little-known artworks from the NAMU collection, visitors will be able to focus on various aspects of human-animal relationships and reflect on how these relationships have changed over time.
The exposition, which will take place both in the rooms of the museum and on the virtual platform, will feature works by Oleksandr Murashko, Vsevolod Maksymovych, Kyriak Kostandi, Mykola Samokysh, Valerian Yablochkin, Serhii Svitoslavskyi, Serhii Vasylkivsky, and others.

The partners of the exhibition are the Kyiv Zoological Park of National Importance and the Happy Paw Homeless Animal Aid Fund.
Information partner: online publication «#Букви».

Curator of the exhibition: Lesya Tolstova.
Head of the working group: Olena Kashuba-Volvach.
Designer: Marichka Ruban.
Exhibition designer: Oleksandr Burlaka.

Due to renovations, the museum can be visited on Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays at 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00. Entrance from the back entrance of the museum.Share: