Turning the pages back... October 10, 1976 (10/08/06)

Turning the pages back...

October 10, 1976

It was 30 years ago that The Weekly reported that The Ukrainian Museum in New York first opened its doors to the public on October 3. Oksana Grabowicz, the museum's curator, worked with the Ukrainian National Women's League of America over the previous 50 years collecting, preserving and cataloguing Ukrainian historical artifacts.

At that time, the museum was located on Second Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets, on the fourth and fifth floors of the shared building of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the UNWLA. Today, The Ukrainian Museum is housed in its new building on Sixth Street between Second and Third avenues.

Iwana Rozankowsky, president of the UNWLA, said in her opening statement that, of all the museums in New York City, The Ukrainian Museum was the only one to exhibit Ukrainian artifacts. "The museum should be a challenge to the Ukrainian community," said Ms. Rozankowsky, "to artistic circles and scholarly organizations to work together to develop it to its full potential."

Ms. Grabowicz said that of the over 800 artifacts in the museum's collection only 7 to 8 percent were on display at the opening. The opening display consisted of "kylyms," or Ukrainian wool rugs, embroidered cloths, shirts, a Hutsul wedding veil, vases, ceramics, silverwork and woodcrafts.

The Weekly asked several in attendance of their impressions of the new museum. Jose Casanova, a student said: "It's important that New York City should have a Ukrainian museum, since this is a major city not only of the United States, but also the world, and many Ukrainian people live here. The fact that this is a folk art museum is also most appropriate, since it is folk arts, more so than fine arts, which bring out the special characteristics of a national culture. The exhibit is done very professionally: it's not overdone, and there's a good selection of objects on display. I'd like to come back again after the opening day crowds have thinned out."

Lesia Kolcio-Matijcio, a painter, commented: "This is a monumental achievement. I would be proud to bring my interested non-Ukrainian friends here. This exhibition is small, but I'm sure it will expand with time. The museum's central location in the Ukrainian community of New York's Lower East Side is crucial. I most definitely plan to come back again and again. One suggestion: this is 1976. In addition to the traditional objects of art, why not have one small section of the museum devoted to modernized Ukrainian folk arts, for example, improvisations on traditional embroidery designs using blues and pinks? Many people would be fascinated by contemporary variations on an ancient tradition."

Another local artist, Konstantyn Szonk-Rusych, said: "It is wonderful that we have this new museum in our community. People should welcome it, support it financially and donate valuable folk art objects from their own collections to this institution. Constructive criticisms of this present exhibition? Most of the emphasis is on objects from western Ukraine, whereas it's Kyivan art that should dominate. After all, Kyiv was Ukraine's cultural center. More aspects of art (enamel, gravure) could be represented, not only ceramics and embroidery. And what are American coins doing on a Ukrainian headdress?"

Source: "Open UNWLA's Ukrainian Museum in New York; hundreds attend inaugural ceremonies," The Ukrainian Weekly, October 10, 1976.

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