CIS’s first and Europe’s second museum of poster opened in Novi Petrivtsi

Photo replica by Kostiantyn HRYSHYN, The Day THE POSTER READS: WHAT DO UKRAINIAN INSURGENTS FIGHT FOR? NOT FOR STALIN, NOT FOR SUVOROV, NOT FOR MENTALLY ILL HITLER. FOR BOUNDLESS UKRAINE, WHICH WOULD NOT DEPEND EITHER ON STALIN, OR THE GERMANS

The National Museum-cum-Pre­serve "1943 Battle of Kyiv,” in the presidential village of Novi Petrivtsi near Kyiv, is now hosting a Museum of the Poster. The first exhibit displays World War II items.

Posters have quite often been, especially during the war, the main instrument of propaganda. No wonder, therefore, that, extolling their army, artists tried to discredit the ene­my army. The exposition includes posters of the USSR, the Galicia Division, OUN-UPA, as well as German Reich’s and Po­lish agitprop pieces. There is also a separate thematic collection, "Creators of Soviet Wea­pons.”

The Museum of the Poster director Viktor TRYHUB told The Day it was the staff of the journal Muzei Ukrainy, which he edits, that hit upon the idea of establishing this museum. For the poster is almost never an object of research – there have been just a few studies in Moscow, Warsaw, and Essen, Germany. A few more countries have small collections, and there is Europe’s only official museum in Warsaw.

The idea was picked up by well-known collectors, gallery and museum curators, who suggested that the Museum of the Poster exhibit items should be taken from their private collections. The museum has already launched a website and received several invitations to hold exhibits in Ukraine’s regions and abroad. For example, Lithuania and Poland have offered to make available posters of the national liberation movement and the OUN-UPA, respectively.

The very first poster to have appeared in Ukraine is part of the collection of Valerii Viter, a well-known musician and front man of the group Kobza. The poster, dated 1896, depicts the visit of Nicholas II to Paris. There are also posters dated 1900, and these rarities cost at least 1,000 dollars. The museum is unlikely to acquire them in the nearest future, but private collectors are ready to meet the museum halfway and exhibit their collections in Novi Petrivtsi.

"Of the greatest value are collections of theme posters,” Tryhub says, "We are displaying now the theme ‘Creators of So­viet Weapons.’ It is quite a rare series issued in 1984 about Soviet designers. This collection is sure to arouse the interest of young people who do not know much about these people. For the Soviet Army was equipped with the hardware designed by prominent scientists.”

Ivan VIKOVAN, director of the Museum of the 1943 Battle of Kyiv, confessed that his museum was more interested in war-theme posters. Yet they are prepared to make available premises for exhibiting all kinds of works.

As the Museum of the Poster was being opened, the village head Rodion Starenky promised to "turn Novi Pterivtsi into a museum village” because it is the sixth museum in the village. Moreover, Novi Petrivtsi may soon be awarded the status of a town, for its population has already exceeded 10,000. Besides, almost all the villagers work at industrial enterprises, with just a few being employed in agriculture.

http://www.day.kiev.ua/221125

http://museum-plakat.do.am/