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by Romuald Mieczkowski
Nowy Dziennik, New York, New York
September, 2001
[Translated by Michael Szporer, SIEC,
Foundation for Free Speech, Washington, D.C.]
When leaving the Soviet Union Juri Maniichuk had to obtain permission from
the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture to take his "masterpieces" out of the
country. Prominent experts responsible for the protection of national
treasures were simply dumbfounded. Nonetheless they had no argument to
forbid exportation abroad of canvasses of Lenins, Stalins, and other leaders
of the Communist Revolution, of the Red Army and the partisans, of the
workers and the peasants, of the heroes of socialist labor profiled against
the backdrop of steaming factory chimneys, liquid steel furnaces of
foundries, power plants, mines, tractors and combines.
One hundred and thirty five large canvasses made their way to America with
Juri. They reflected the grandeur backed by the iron will of Bolshevik
might. Socialist realism fascinates me as attempt to turn art to the
renaissance in the communist rendition. Art always had a certain political
dimension, retaining an ideological function. The system harnessed it for
its
own agenda. The closing of borders and the isolation of the USSR, along
with
the demands on the arts of course, were the motivating factors. They
watered socialist realist passions and made them blossom on canvas.
The paintings could be classified into several types: kitsch portraits and
scenes from proletarian life; paintings on the edge that diverged from
socialist realist dicta; compromises with the regime ideology, among them
more "ambitious" pieces intended for the walls of offices of enlightened
bureaucrats; poster-paintings celebrating historic events; large-scale
paintings intended for museums, theaters, palaces of culture and clubs. The
latter surprise us with the seriousness of their execution and
monumentalism. It was well known that quality depended on many factors, and
especially on the artist's name and reputation. Among them are the today
forgotten "stars" of ideological commitment, but quite good craftsmen, Juri
explains.
The early years of the revolution brought to fruition interesting
talents artistic rebellion. The ideological noose quickly tightened. Even
though volumes were written in USSR about socialist realism and its
"superiority" to bourgeois art, that type of art stiffened--reflecting in
that gesture the dreariness of the times.
Juri regards the paintings of the fifties when socialist realist art was at
its peak as the most valuable of his collection. Later, as a type socialist
realism began to dissolve, abandoning ideology rather quickly,
introducing innovation, as if foretelling the sudden collapse of communism.
The collector gathered the canvasses of distinguished masters of the period.
Their work was described in a collection catalogue, "Realism and Socialist
Realism in Ukrainian painting of the Soviet era."
Oleksy Shovkunienko's "Hymnal to Love "from 1950-51 stands out in the
collection with its shocking naïve hyperrealism and plain photographic
narration, measuring 400-600cm, portraying luminescent Stalin surrounded by
his faithful comrades--fallen stars of that forgotten season.
Very striking is Michaly Antonchik's "Triumph of Women." That triumph
depends on three women--three barefooted graces of socialism--with the
record-holder of the five-year plan in the foreground, donned with medals of
a labor heroine, and with a shoulder bag of seeds sowing by hand the vast
fields of the kolkhoz.
There are canvases of other Ukrainian masters expressing their devotion to
the edicts of socialist realism, among them, Michailo Weinstein, Tatiana
Jablonskaya, Victor Puzyrkov, Victor Shatalin, and Zoya Lerman. Noteworthy
are the pieces by Sergei Grogoriev, Boris Kolesnik, Ivan Yevchenko, Juri
Zorki, Ilya Vasilchenko, Asfat Safargalin--and many others whose very names
reflect the international flavor of Ukrainian art of the period.
Along with the locals, the collection contains the work of newcomers to
Ukraine, especially the Russians, who generally served as mentors. After
all, realism in Russian art was as formidable as in ballet. From the point
of view of such influences, Ukraine was not unlike the other republics of
the Soviet empire.
As the collector observes, his paintings albeit carefully selected, do not
pretend to be unique. Hundred of thousands of socialist realist paintings
were produced in the former USSR. Many canvasses were practically mass
produced, but quite a few by the brush stroke of very well known and highly
skilled artists. Some are still kept in the vaults of the museums to this
day. The hastily assembled collection on the eve of the collapse of the
empire is simply a witness of the period. Seemingly unique here, it could
perhaps compete with a gallery in some town in the former Soviet region,
says its owner.
This type of art is little known beyond the borders of the former USSR and
its former satellites. Maniichuk would like to situate his collection in
some American or Western European museum, so that it could be seen publicly.
The public would then perhaps understand what was happening at the time in
the empire, seen through the prism of Ukraine from whose holdings the
paintings originate.
Maniichuk does not want to divide up the collection. Aside from historical
interest, the works are professionally executed, and realism is fashionable
in the West, he observes. The Maniichuk paintings reflect a unique type of
art from a closed historical period that has no future. However, the
collection as an investment has a bright future: Its value will undoubtedly
grow over time.
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On the Anniversary of October, 1978
By Mykhaylo Antonchik
Jury Maniichuk's Collection
(Click on image to enlarge it)
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Hero of the Socialist Labor P. Honcharuk, 1985
By Mykola Dubyna
Jury Maniichuk's Collection
(Click on image to enlarge it)
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*Romuald Mieczkowski is a respected Polish poet and journalist from Vilnius,
Lithuania. He is editor-in-chief of ZNAD WILII journal and owner of the
Vilnius art gallery Znad Wilii.
*Juri Maniichuk, a Ukrainian American lawyer and a consultant to the United
Nations in New York, is known to Siec subscribers as an occasional
commentator. In the past, he has served as a legal advisor to presidents of
Ukraine Kravchuk and Kuchma under the auspices of the World Bank. He
represents Foundation for Free Speech-Ukraine.
*The article appeared in Polish in Nowy Dziennik [New York]. Article was
translated by Michael Szporer, Foundation for Free Speech, Washington, D.C.
For Personal and Academic Use Only
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