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An exposition of works "Shame is to bow down and obey one's destiny" to mark the 150th anniversary of Lesya Ukrainka's birth (1871-1913) has been opened at the Art Museum.

To you, Ukraine, our helpless mother,

My string will be the first to ring.

That string will sound like no other

My heart itself shall be that string

(“Do. 1893”)

 

On February 25, 2021, the Art Museum opened an exhibition of works "Shame - to bow and obey fate" to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the poet, playwright-innovator, publicist, critic, public figure Lesya Ukrainka (1871-1913).

What do we know about Lesya Ukrainka and her legacy? In addition to the school or student program, familiar from childhood drama extravaganza "Forest Song" and the poem "Contra spem spero"? About her talented family and where did such a pseudonym come from? In Soviet times, her poetry and personality were presented as socialist, "ardent revolutionary-democrat" or that she learned to write on "the best examples of Russian literature"… How good that now, in our time, it is possible to study archival materials and analyze her legacy, in particular to learn much more about her personal and creative life. I think that before the 150th anniversary of Larysa Kosach-Kvitka we will learn many more facts about her. Many interesting projects have been launched in Ukraine before this date: "150 names of Lesya" (stories about her surroundings, family, travel, etc.), reading (flashbooks) of poetry on various platforms, lectures by famous literary critics, students performing rap compositions for All-Ukrainian art challenge (!), Exhibition and television projects, theater productions, etc.

Erudite, interesting, fashionable, refined, intellectual, indomitable, strong in spirit, "pro-European" - such is Lesya Ukrainka for us - a woman with a capital letter! Her life was spent in endless struggle, in particular for her health, her weapon is a word that is still extremely relevant today. Lesya herself put the following thought about herself into Mavka's lips from "Forest Song": "No! I am alive, I will live forever. I have in my heart that which does not die… ».

Larysa Kosach had excellent language skills and said of herself that there was probably no sound she could not utter. She wrote her works in Ukrainian, Russian, French and German, translated from ancient Greek, German, English, French, Italian and Polish. She knew Latin well, and during her stay in Egypt she began to study Spanish. Lesya Ukrainka left behind impressive poetic poems, prose works, more than 270 poems, journalistic articles, as well as unsurpassed translations of world classics. Back in 1889, in a letter to her brother Mykhailo, Larysa Kosach presented a large program of translations of works of world literature into Ukrainian. As part of this program, she translated Heine's works - "Lyrical Songs" (1890), the poem "Atta Troll" (1893) and other poetry. Among her translations are hymns from the Rigveda (1890), poetry of Ancient Egypt (1910), and attempts to translate works by Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, and Byron. She was also interested in Ukrainian folklore throughout her life. She knew a lot of folk songs (about 500) and she was a prominent bearer of folklore. Her first folklore work, Kupala in Volhynia, was published in 1891, and her husband Kliment Kvitka recorded the last major cycle of songs from her voice in 1913.

Through her work and translation, Lesya Ukrainka organically intertwined the Ukrainian language and culture into the general civilizational context of mankind. I completely agree with the words of the famous writer Oksana Zabuzhko, who said in an interview with Radio Svoboda: "It was Lesya Ukrainka who gave Ukrainians a passport that we are a cultural nation, that we are a European nation."

The exhibition presents works from the stock collection of the Museum of Arts, which reveal the inner world of the Great Ukrainka - oil painting "A heavy red cloud…" (2008) by Honored Artist of Ukraine, member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine Felix Polonsky (b. 1941), graphic portrait of Lesya Ukrainka (lithography) member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine Anatoliy Navrotsky (1934-2003) and a sculpture carved from wood, fellow artist, art critic, writer and poet, Honored Artist of Georgia Andriy Nimenko (1925-2006).

 

Lesya Nestroyna - researcher at the Department of Scientific and Educational Work

Kropyvnytskyi Art Museum