DATELINE NEW YORK: Catching up on Culture (01/28/96)

DATELINE NEW YORK: Catching up on Culture

by Helen Smindak

If you noticed that "Dateline New York" has been missing from the pages of The Weekly in recent months, it's not because of a dearth of cultural news. In fact, a good many important events took place during the autumn months, and more action is in store for New York's cultural scene in coming weeks.

The absence of "Dateline" was due to a simple fracture of a wristbone - mine, to be exact. Although this prevented me from typing, I was still mobile and able to attend such outstanding events as the opening of a commemorative exhibition of Jacques Hnizdovsky's work at The Ukrainian Museum; a conference on Hutsul embroidery, held in conjunction with an exhibition on living traditions of the Hutsul people; a concert by the Ensemble of Song and Dance of the Ukrainian ministry of Internal Affairs; a special event hosted by the Shevchenko Scientific Society to mark the publication of the new five-volume Encyclopedia of Ukraine; and a retrospective of films by the Armenian film director Sergei Paradjanov, who worked in Kyiv in the 1960s. (Space limitations require that the coverage be presented in two issues of The Weekly.)

In the interest of fairness, events that I did not get to should be mentioned. Among these were an exhibition at Slava Gerulak's Mayana Gallery, focusing on reverse painting on glass by two young artists from Lviv, Elya and Ihor Bilinsky; and a concert by Ukrainian pop star Sophia Rotaru, who performed at Hunter College Assembly Hall with a full orchestra and a group of dancers.

Hnizdovsky retrospectives

The eminent artist Jacques Hnizdovsky has been gone for 10 years, but his work lives on in paintings, prints, book illustrations and other media that reveal the accomplishments of a nearly 50-year career.

The 10th anniversary of the artist's death in November 1985 and the 30th anniversary of his birth in January 1915 are being commemorated through exhibits currently under was at The Ukrainian museum and the New York Public Library, and a one-year traveling exhibit in Ukraine under the auspices of the U.S. Information Agency.

Exhibits of the artist's work have already been held at Mount Olive College in North Carolina, the Morristown Festival in New Jersey, the Ukrainian Institute of America and the Mayana Gallery in New York City, and the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago.

A 1996 calendar sponsored by the Self-Reliance Credit Union and the National Association of Ukrainian Credit Unions features a Hnizdovsky oil painting on the cover and 12 other works, one for each month of the year.

The Ukrainian Museum exhibit, which opened December 10, 1995, and runs through March 3, includes 32 oil paintings, 25 woodcut prints, a large wool tapestry designed by Mr. Hnizdovsky (and woven by Barbara Cornett) and several sculptures and ceramics. Many of the works are from the museum's own collection; others belong to Mr. Hnizdovsky's widow, Stephanie Hnizdovsky, and private collectors.

In a welcoming address during opening ceremonies, museum director Maria Shust said the exhibit, which attempted to show the multi-faceted aspects of Mr. Hnizdovsky's artistry, would not have been possible without Mrs. Hnizdovsky's generous assistance.

Dr. Joseph Danko, president of the museum's board of trustees, described Mr. Hnizdovsky as a true friend of the museum and a contemplative person who was always ready with words for counseling and humorous anecdotes. " How poor our lives would be Hnizdovsky had not come to the Western world and into our lives," he concluded.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a festive reception was held later the same day at the Ukrainian National Home. Close to 200 guests enjoyed the delightful voice of soprano Karen Ann Cholhan, a rising star in the operatic world, listened to a brief address by Jaroslaw Leshko, guest curator of the Hnizdovsky exhibition, and chatted over a buffet luncheon.

Analyzing Mr. Hnizdovsky's work, Mr. Leshko said the artist embraced themes that touch upon most aspects of existence from the power of religious imagery, to the drama of city dwelling, to the richness, variability and beauty of nature.

Mistress of ceremonies Barbara Bachynsky supervised a drawing of lottery prizes by members of the recently formed Ukrainian Museum Circle, a group of young professionals who work in New York City.

Iwan Wynnyk, a member of the building fund-raising committee, announced that reconstruction work would soon begin on the museum building on East Sixth Street and proposed a new fundraising project - the $1,000 Club. His idea spurred a good number of sizable donations from various individuals and organizations that very afternoon.

Carpathian traditions

The picturesque lifestyle and unique traditions of the Hutsul people have always attracted artists, writers, scholars and travelers to the Carpathian Mountain territory in southwestern Ukraine. Little wonder then, that the Hutsuls were in the spotlight at two New York cultural institutions recently: The Ukrainian Museum on Second Avenue and the Film Forum in Soho.

The museum's one-day conference on Hutsul embroidery, held in connection with the opening of an exhibit of photographs of the contemporary Hutsul region, featured two speakers from Ukraine during its morning session. Dr. Tatiana Kara-Vasylievska, an ethnographer who is chairman of the Folk Art Department of the Maksym Rylsky Institute of Art, Folklore and Ethnography (a division of the Academy of Sciences in Kyiv), discussed the meanings and messages in Ukrainian folk embroidery.

Ludmila Bulgakova described archaic features and motifs in Carpathian folk embroidery. Ms. Bulgakova is the curator of embroidery at the Rylsky Institute in Lviv.

Two American folklorists who explored the Carpathian region of Ukraine in August 1992, seeking living folk culture, shared their impressions with participants in the afternoon. Helene Cincebeauz, ethnographer, author and textile collector, spoke of wooden churches, decorated gates, charming homes adorned with hand painted grapevines and colorful flowers, and warm-hearted, welcoming people Ms. Cincebeaux noted that the iconostasis of the Kosmach church seen in the film "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" was taken away to Moscow after the filming; its present whereabouts are unknown.

Artist, folklorist and author Mary B. Kelly, who is professor of art at Tompkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, N.Y., pointed out the imagery found on Hutsul embroidery. She traced rams' horns mother-daughter images and the birth-goddess symbol (a geometric figure with upraised arms) on Hutsul garments.

Ritual cloths (rushnyky) of western Ukraine and their use as a talisman of safety were the subject of a discourse by Lubow Wolynetz. Mrs. Wolynetz, who curated the Carpathian exhibit, is folk art curator and director of education for the museum as well as a master embroiderer. Topping off the conference was a one-hour film produced in Ukraine, "Steps to Heaven," explaining symbolism in Ukrainian embroidery. An exhibition of Hutsul folk costumes and textiles, together with photos of the Carpathian region taken by Ms. Cincebeaux and Ms. Kelly, was opened with informal ceremonies in the evening.

The findings and observations of Mrs. Wolynetz, Ms. Kara-Vasylieva, Ms. Cincebeaux and Ms. Kelly have been published by the museum in a 40-page illustrated catalogue titled "The Changeless Carparthians: Living Traditions of the Hutsul People." Focusing on Hutsul embroidery and travel through the Carpathians, it is available in the museum gift shop or by contacting The Ukrainian Museum, 203 Second Ave., New York, NY 10003; telephone, (212) 228-0110.

Shadows of ancestors

The Armenian-born director Sergei Paradjanov broke into the Soviet film industry in the 1960s making Ukrainian-language movies at the Dovzhenko Studio in Kyiv. His first great international success was "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" (1964), a 97-minute opus set in the Carpathian Mountains.

Billed as a Romeo and Juliet tale of lovers trapped on opposite sides of a Carpathian blood feud, "Shadows" received several screenings during a recent retrospective of Paradjanov films at the Film Forum on West Houston Street.

Although Soviet authorities condemned it for its "formalism" and "Ukrainian nationalism," the film was a worldwide sensation and won 16 awards.

The film was described by J. Hoberman in Premiere magazine as "an exuberant folk pageant - a tale of blood feuds, unhappy love and sorcery that is structured like a ballad, scored to near-continual folk music, filled with ethnographic rituals (a traditional wedding has the nuptial couple bathed, blindfolded and yoked together) and, thanks to [film director Yuriyl Illienko shot like an acid-head's movie."

The nine-day retrospective also included showings of a Paradjanov film titled: Ukrainian Rhapsody" (1961). This film which exuded a pastoral, Gainsborough quality, with a series of flashbacks, featured a Debbie Reynolds look alike who vaults from village choir to international stardom after winning a vocal competition. "Rhapsody" is filled with sunlight, bandura music, songs, sunflowers victory in war and reconstruction, and most certainly must have been banned by the Soviets.

The Paradjanov retrospective, with both "Shadows" and "Rhapsody," was repeated in December at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, and played in December and during the past month at the University of California theater in Berkeley.

A Met quintet

First there were two, then there were three, which grew to tour in 1990, and now there are five Ukrainian singers on the Metropolitan Opera roster: bassos Paul Plishka, Andrij Dobriansky and Sergei Koptchak, soprano Maria Guleghina and tenor Vladimir Grishko.

Mezzo-soprano Ivanka Myhal of Toronto and baritone Yuri Mazurok from Eastern Europe appeared at the Met for two seasons, at different times, holding the number at three during the 70s.

Mr. Plishka, who has sung more than 1,000 performances and more than 50 roles with the Met since his debut in 1967, is being heard this season in five operas. He will appear in the title role of "Falstaff," as Padre Guardiano in "La Forza del Destino," Lodovico in "Otello," Ramfis in "Aida" and Friar Laurent in "Romeo et Juliette." His performances in "Falstaff" and "Aida" can be heard on radio on February 3 and March 2, during the Saturday matinee Metropolitan Opera broadcasts.

Mr. Dobriansky, who has been on the Met roster since 1969, has also had an illustrious career at the Met, with more than 30 roles to his credit. This season, the Ukrainian-born bass-baritone returned to the Met stage in "Die Flederrnaus."

Mr. Koptchak made his Met debut in 1984 as Gremin in "Eugene Onegin." Mr. Koptchak has been heard in several Met productions, including "Khovanshchina," "Boris Godunov" and "Rigoletto." A native of the Rusyn-Ukrainian region of Slovakia, he made his only Met appearance of the 1995-1996 season in the role of the Commendatore of Seville in "Don Giovanni ."

In 1990, Ms. Guleghina joined the Met company to perform in "Andrea Chenier" and returned during the 1993-1994 season to sing the role of Tosca opposite Placido Domingo. This season, she has appeared as Lisa in three performances of Tchaikovsky's "Queen of Spades" with baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky and soprano Leonie Rysanek. Born in Odessa, she is of Ukrainian and Armenian origin.

Rounding out the Met's quintet of Ukrainian singers is Kyiv-born Mr. Grishko, who made his debut as Rodolfo in "La Boheme" earlier this month. Mr. Grishko spent a couple of .seasons with the New York City Opera before being selected for the Metropolitan Opera Company. He was first heard with the company as Alfredo in "La Traviata" during the 1995 Met in the Parks concert series.

Reviewing "Boheme" in The New York Times on January 11, music critic Anthony Tommasini wrote that Mr. Grishko has "an exceptionally bright tenor...his sound is clear and burnished; his top notes have a nice ping and carrying power." He chided the tenor for "overly emotive" acting, but noted this was a habit that could easily be corrected.

Although the Metropolitan Opera program notes and press release identified Mr. Grishko as a Ukrainian tenor, Mr. Tommasini insisted on calling him a "Russian tenor," eliciting corrections from Ukrainian American readers. According to Alexandra Bacon of the Herbert Barrett Management agency, a correction appeared in The New York Times on January 12, on page 2 of the first section.

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