Kyiv’s National Museum of Decorative Arts unveils Prymachenko’s art exhibition and launches virtual gallery debut

The National Museum of Decorative Arts of Ukraine in Kyiv has launched the "Maria Prymachenko. Unknown" exhibition and a virtual gallery showcasing the artist's works.

The National Museum of Decorative Arts of Ukraine reported this on Facebook.

What is the solution?

The museum's director, Liudmyla Strokova, stressed that the digitalization of exhibits facilitated the realization of this project. A group of staff members spent six months using equipment donated by the @ALIPH Foundation and with the support of the French Institute in Ukraine.

Specialists from eMuseum and Imersum, with whom the museum has been cooperating for several years, helped develop the idea.

"The museum's guests were not only amazed by the exhibition, which presented about 60 unknown works of the People's Artist of Ukraine Maria Prymachenko of the early period, which are being exhibited in the museum's halls for the first time.

But they also enjoyed traveling through the virtual gallery with the help of "magic" glasses," the message reads.

How does it work?

Thanks to cutting-edge technologies, it is now possible to thoroughly examine 72 pieces from two albums by artists from the 1940s that were previously only on display in exhibitions.

Also, engage with the artist's ceramic pieces—not just by touching them but also by moving them.

According to Olena Shestakova, a museum researcher and an expert on the work of renowned artist Maria Prymachenko, the chosen pieces from the museum's exceptional collection were produced between 1935 and 1938, when Prymachenko was a student at the School of Folk Masters of Folk Art and employed at the Experimental Workshops of the Kyiv Museum of Ukrainian Art.

Maria Prymachenko created a "cycles" of watercolor and gouache drawings linked by their sheet size, composition, and specific color choices, depending on the intended educational purpose.

One notable event attendee was Anastasiia Prymachenko, the great-granddaughter of the internationally renowned artist. She thanked the museum for preserving Maria Prymachenko's artistic legacy and emphasized that the exhibition and virtual gallery would introduce the "unknown Maria" to a large audience of admirers.

For reference:

As reported, the exhibition "Two Marias" opened at the National Reserve "Sophia of Kyiv" on November 21. It is dedicated to the work of two outstanding Ukrainian naive artists: Maria Prymachenko and Maria Halushko.