History of art in Ukraine
27 July 2024 10am - 5pm28 July 2024 10am - 5pm
Wolfson British Academy Room | Burlington Gardens
£420. Includes light refreshments and a wine reception at the end of day one.
Friends of the RA book first
In the Eye of the Storm
Discover the history of art in Ukraine on this weekend course, taught by art historians and curators.
As we present the most comprehensive UK exhibition about modernist art in Ukraine, this weekend course will explore a rich history of creativity that paved the way for the flourishing of artistic styles that make up modernism in Ukraine.
From traditional Ukrainian folk art to the influence of Byzantine mosaics and frescoes and Baroque architecture on Ukrainian culture, we will uncover the range of artistic styles and cultural identities that make up the history of Ukrainian art.
We will look at the ways in which modernist artists such as Kazymyr Malevych, Alexandra Exter and El Lissitzky built on the blending of Ukrainian, Polish, Russian and Jewish cultures to formulate their distinct artistic styles. Participants will have the opportunity to encounter new and lesser-known works by Ukrainian artists, as well as to reassess Ukrainian artists and artworks that have often been misidentified as Russian.
Over the weekend, participants will learn from a range of experts, from art historians to curators, and are encouraged to engage in discussion and debate.
If the course is sold out, please contact public.programmes@royalacademy.org.uk to join our waiting list.
Minimum age 18. If you have any access requirements that you’d like to discuss, please contact public.programmes@royalacademy.org.uk.
£420. Includes light refreshments and a wine reception at the end of day one.
Friends of the RA book first
In the Eye of the Storm
About the speakers
Constance Uzwyshyn is an art historian and Ukrainian art dealer. In 1997, she founded ARTEast Gallery, Ukraine's first private commercial art gallery, and curated the juried exhibition Great Ukrainian Women Artists in 1995-98. Currently, Constance is a doctoral candidate at Cambridge University, researching representations of violence in Ukrainian war art. Recently, she authored War Diary: 2022 Spring, Kyiv Region; Windows, Signs of Peace and What Hinders a Sermon Becomes One for the Schunck Museum in the Netherlands (2024). Constance also serves as the Art Advisor for the Cambridge Journal of Law, Politics, and Art and is the Creative Cultural Industries Advisor for the Ukrainian Institute London.
Dr Galina Mardilovich is a Curator at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago. She specializes in the history of printmaking, the nineteenth century, and the art of the Russian Empire. Before the Smart, Mardilovich held teaching and curatorial positions, including at the University of Cambridge, SUNY Purchase College, and the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. Her research has been supported by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Getty Research Institute, and the American Philosophical Society, among others, and has been published in Print Quarterly, Art History, and The Burlington Magazine, and several edited volumes.
James Butterwick is a London-based art dealer and collector of Ukrainian and Russian modern art. In 2015, James became the first dealer in his field to be invited to exhibit at TEFAF, Maastricht Art Fair, showing a collection of works by avant-garde painters, including Oleksandr Bohomazov, seven of whose works he sold to the Kröller Müller Museum in the Netherlands. He lectures internationally, including on the work and life of Bohomazov, and has written extensively on Ukrainian art.
Dr Katia Denysova is an art historian and curator, specialising in Ukraine’s modern art. She completed her PhD at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London in 2024 and is currently a research fellow at the University of Tübingen in Germany. Katia is the co-curator of the travelling exhibition In the 'Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine' (winner of the 2023 Apollo Exhibition of the Year Award for the show at Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid) and the co-editor of the accompanying catalogue (Thames & Hudson, 2022).
Dr Olenka Pevny is Associate Professor in Slavonic and Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge. She is a fellow of Fitzwilliam College and Chair of the Cambridge Committee for Central and East European and Eurasian Studies. She studies the art and culture of Byzantium, Kyivan Rus, Early Modern, Modern and Soviet Ukraine. Before arriving in Cambridge, Dr Pevny was an Associate Professor of Byzantine and Medieval Art History and Chair of the Art and Art History Department at the University of Richmond, VA. She has worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in a curatorial capacity on The Glory of Byzantium exhibition, and as an archaeologist in Crimea and Greece. Her publications include Perceptions of Byzantium and Its Neighbors, and articles on topics ranging from medieval female patronage to the Soviet cultural restoration practices.
Dr Olesya Khromeychuk is a historian and writer. She is the author of The Death of a Soldier Told by His Sister (2022). Khromeychuk has written for The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Prospect and The New Statesman, and has delivered a TED talk on ‘What the World Can Learn From Ukraine's Fight for Democracy’. She has taught the history of East-Central Europe at several British universities and is currently the Director of the Ukrainian Institute London.
Olga Sydorushkina is a Ukrainian film curator and cultural manager with 15 years of experience in managing cultural projects in Ukraine, both local and international. She worked as a coordinator and selector at the Odesa International Film Festival and curated the film department at the Green Theatre in Odesa. Olga also worked for over two years on developing projects at the Museum of Modern Art in Odesa. She is the CEO and co-founder of the festival of contemporary culture PORUCH (Odesa) and is currently a Film Fellow at the Ukrainian Institute London.
Dr Vira Tsypuk is a curator and researcher in history, art history and sociology, working on Ukrainian art and culture of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She is the author of the project Bruno Schulz and His City and the curator of the permanent exhibition dedicated to the artist in the Drohobych Museum in Ukraine. Vira is currently a British Academy Research Fellow at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
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