London changes title to a Degas: “Ukrainian”, not “Russian”

London changes title to a Degas: “Ukrainian”, not “Russian”

It is a cake that represents companies of dancers that the artist was fascinated to see exhibited on the stages of Paris. In the painting, the yellow and blue of Ukraine’s national colors are evident in what appear to be hair bands and crowns worn by the dancers.

“The title of this painting has been the subject of discussion for many years and is treated in the academic literature; however, there has been more attention in the last month due to the current situation, so we felt it was an appropriate time to update the painting’s title, to better reflect its subject matter.” .

Olesya Khromeychuk, director of the Ukrainian Institute in London, told the German magazine Der Spiegel last month: “Any visit to a gallery or museum in London with exhibits of art or cinema from the USSR reveals a deliberate misunderstanding, or simply the result of laziness, of the region as such. a Russia without end; just as the current president of the Russian Federation would like”, Vladimir Putin.

“Curators have no problem presenting Jewish, Belarusian or Ukrainian art and artists as Russian. On rare occasions, when a Ukrainian does not present himself as Russian, he may be presented as ‘Ukrainian-born’, as was the case with film director Oleksandr Dovzhenko at one of the major exhibitions on revolutionary art in London,” he added. .

Among those who welcomed the National Gallery movement was Mariia Kashchenko, the Ukrainian-born founder and director of the Art Unit, which exhibits emerging artists, including 21 Ukrainians.

“I understand that the term Russian art became an easy general term that was useful, but now it is very important to do things right. As a Ukrainian person, in the past I came across times when I was called Russian,” he said.

Source: Ambito

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