Ukrainian artist whose work has become symbol of peace is honoured in Warsaw
Maria Prymachenko’s artwork has become a global symbol of peace in the war in Ukraine.
Her dazzlingly colourful renderings of life in the Ukrainian countryside showcase a world that is gradually being destroyed by Russian bombs.
An icon of Ukrainian national identity, she was lionised by Picasso, given a year-long celebration by UNESCO and even has a planet named after her.
However, on one of the first days of the war, the museum in Ivankiv near Kyiv which housed much of Maria Prymachenko's output was destroyed by a Russian attack, taking most of the canvases with it, though some were saved.
Many of Prymachenko’s paintings have pacifist themes, and her work has become a symbol for peace in Ukraine and around the world following the attack on the Ivanka National Museum in Ivankiv on 27 February.
Now, this world, which Russia decided should die, can be seen outside the ministry of culture in Warsaw's Old Town in an outdoor photographic exhibition of her work.
Photographs of eleven of the works by the folk artist that originally come from the bombed ethnographic museum in Ivankiv are on display at the open-air exhibition by the National Centre for Culture in front of the Kordegarda gallery in Warsaw, opposite the Presidential Palace.
Culture minister Piotr Gliński said: "This museum was not supposed to exist because that's what Putin decided. But today we have it in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. [...] This world was supposed to be killed and burned, but it was saved.”
Vitaly Bilyan from the Ukrainian embassy added: “The work of Maria Prymachenko presented today is not only part of the cultural heritage of Ukraine, but of the entire European civilization."
Photographs of eleven of the works by the folk artist that originally come from the bombed ethnographic museum in Ivankiv are on display at the open-air exhibition by the National Centre for Culture in front of the Kordegarda gallery in Warsaw, opposite the Presidential Palace.
Many of Prymachenko’s paintings have pacifist themes, and her work has become a symbol for peace in Ukraine and around the world following the attack on the Ivanka National Museum in Ivankiv on 27 February.
According to the great-granddaughter of the artist Anastasiia Prymachenko, some of the 25 works of art created by the artist that had been stored in the museum were saved by a local man who ran into the burning building.
These were taken into hiding by locals and scattered across the town to keep them safe from looting Russian soldiers.
Natalia Gnatiuk from the Prymachenko Family Foundation said of the attack: “I'm sure it was intentional […] It was the first building destroyed and the task of the occupants is to destroy our Ukrainian roots, to destroy our Ukrainian culture -- they hate it.”
Culture minister Piotr Gliński said: "This museum was not supposed to exist because that's what Putin decided. But today we have it in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. [...] This world was supposed to be killed and burned, but it was saved.”
The aggression subsequently prompted calls for Russia to be removed from UNESCO, which declared 2009 the year of Prymachenko.
Prymachenko painted the works on display in Warsaw between 1963 and 1988. They depict an extremely colourful world full of fantasy, filled with strange creatures, including the paintings Black Beast, Bull and Peacock among Hops. There are also fairy-tale-like scenes from life, such as Ukrainian Wedding.
Her paintings are considered a prominent example of European ‘naïve art’, a term used to describe work by artists without formal training.
Seeing the vibrant colours, it is hard to believe that Prymachenko was forced to use cheap, beginners’ paints for most of her career. It was only towards the end of her life could she afford to use more expensive, better paints.
Prymachenko painted the works on display in Warsaw between 1963 and 1988. They depict an extremely colourful world full of fantasy, filled with strange creatures, including the paintings Black Beast, Bull and Peacock among Hops.
She was born in 1908 Bolotnia, a village on the edge of Ivankiv, about 30 kilometres from Kyiv.
During her childhood, she was taken ill with polio, and this painful disease influenced the girl’s life, instilling in her a compassion for nature and living things.
Maria Prymachenko did not receive an artistic education. She completed only four years of primary school.
She grew up in a creative family: her grandmother specialized in colouring Easter eggs, her father was an excellent carpenter, and her mother did embroidery.
Prymachenko’s paintings are considered a prominent example of European ‘naïve art’, a term used to describe work by artists without formal training.
Her family taught her a variety of traditional Ukrainian crafts, such as embroidery and decorating Easter eggs. Later in her life she used the traditional Ukrainian patterns and mixed them with her amazing imagination
On the origins of her passion for painting, she said: “Once, as a young girl, I was tending a gaggle of geese. When I got with them to a sandy beach, on the bank of the river, after crossing a field dotted with wildflowers, I began to draw real and imaginary flowers with a stick on the sand… Later, I decided to paint the walls of my house using natural pigments. After that I’ve never stopped drawing and painting.”
She may never have been known to the world if not for the Kyiv artist Tatiana Flera, who discovered Prymachenko in 1935.
Tatiana noticed her work in exhibitions in village culture centres. They enchanted her so much that she immediately went to Prymachenko's native village to meet her in person.
An icon of Ukrainian national identity, she was lionised by Picasso, given a year-long celebration by UNESCO and even has a planet named after her.
Ove time, the artist gained international recognition and she exhibited her works in Prague, Paris, Sofia, Montreal and Warsaw.
Pablo Picasso said after visiting Prymachenko's exhibition in Paris: “I kneel before the artistic wonders of this brilliant Ukrainian woman.”
Despite numerous national and international successes, the artist lived and painted in her birthplace until the end of her life in 1997.
The out-door exhibition is organised by the National Centre for Culture, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and Presto.pl and can be seen until 6 April.
