Decorative art is an important element of the Ukrainian traditional culture since the very times when folk artists decorated their own houses. Ceramic manufacturing grew into a powerful industrial sector already in the Soviet period with its goods becoming an inherent part of everyday life. However, the industry dissolved the artistic component and ceramics were then considered to be for everyday use only.
Factory exhibition project seeks to draw the public's attention to an outstanding phenomenon in the Ukrainian history – majolica production. Vasylkiv Majolica Factory was a large-scale enterprise producing artistic ceramics that was highly appreciated by consumers and the art community in the 1960s–1980s. It was during this period that the eminent Ukrainian artists — Nadiia and Valerii Protoriev, Mykhailo Denysenko and Nelli Isupova — worked there. Factory project focuses on studying their artistic heritage.
The history of Vasylkiv majolica — the most successful manufacturer of artistic ceramics in the USSR — ended this year for economic reasons while we were preparing this project. Nevertheless, awareness of its past and learning about its activity will help restore the prestige of folk ceramics, which is now more of Kitsch nature, as a unique example of professional and original phenomenon of Ukrainian art. The painters of Vasylkiv Majolica Factory were its driving force.
It became possible to implement this exhibition project owing to the fact the museums of Ukraine have collected and preserved the best works of the factory's painters. The largest collection of Vasylkiv artists' oeuvre — over 1500 objects — is stored in the National Folk Decorative Art Museum. Factory's exposition consists of thematic sections with each of them highlighting a separate aspect of Vasylkiv Majolica Factory's development. Foreword informs visitors of decorative art in Ukraine of the Soviet period. History of Vasylkiv Factory demonstrates the enterprise's development from a local pottery center and a small artel to a full-scale serial majolica production. Range of Goods is a concise review of the factory's main products. Painters Section is devoted to the team of artists that worked in Vasylkiv in the 1950s–1980s.
Moving from broad and general topics that are important for understanding the context of Vasylkiv artists' activity, the exhibition visitors will be able to plunge into the artistic life of Nadiia and Valerii Protoriev. Kind Animals Section is about the most recognizable series of majolicaware that became the couple's showpiece. Birds and Flowers Section tells us about the exquisite ornamentation of traditional crockery. Undefined and Mysterious dwells on enigmatic yet perfect chimeras created by the Protorievs. The leaflet that all visitors will receive reproduces the exposition with a detailed description of all sections.
Factory project is fulfilled as a mobile exhibition in a construction set format that allows carrying out an educational mission. The exposition will travel around the country to revive the public interest in Ukrainian art.
The project has been implemented with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.
Organizers:
National Folk Decorative Art Museum
Ya Gallery Pavlo Gudimov Art Center
Curator, Author of Idea — Pavlo Gudimov
Project Manager — Liudmyla Strokova
Project Coordinator — Olena Khazova
Text Author — Polina Baitsym
Research Consultants — Iryna Beketova, Maryna Bohush, Hanna Vakhrameieva, Nelli Isupova, Serhii Denysenko
Exposition Technical Manager — Yurii Horpynych
Designer — Kateryna Bolshakova
Exhibition Scenery — Pavlo Gudimov, Kateryna Bolshakova, Anna Voitovych,
Mariia Andriichuk
Photographers — Vladyslav Bashutskyi, Maksym Bilousov
Editor — Bohdan Zavitii
Translator — Dmytro Yankovyi
Director, Camera Operator — Anna Voitenko
Video Animation — Sofiia Kharchuk
Communication — Anna Burdina
Parallel Program Curator — Valeriia Vitryk
Exposition Manager — Olha Novoderezhkina
Exposition Administrator — Kseniia Bashutska
Restorer — Anastasiia Ivanenko
Project materials have been provided by: National Folk Decorative Art Museum, Bila Tserkva Regional Museum, Hordii Pshenychnyi Central State Archive of Documentary Films, Photographs and Sound Recordings, National Reserve Museum of Ukrainian Pottery in Opishne, Serhii Denysenko, Yuliia Bilokin, Valentyn Furmanov, Nelli Isupova.
Welcome to the project opening due on July 25, 2019 at 5 P.M. in the National Folk Decorative Art Museum (9, Lavrska str., building 2, Kyiv).
Official facebook page of the project:
https://www.facebook.com/events/324100895198567/?active_tab=discussion