TRANSCARPATHIAN REGIONAL ART MUSEUM NAMED AFTER Y. BOKSHAI. PART 1. TRANSCARPATHIAN PAINTING OF ХІХ – ХХ CENTURIES.

05

April

2017

Transcarpathian Regional Art Museum, which since 1990 has been named after one of the founders of the Transcarpathian School of Painting Yosyp Bokshai, was founded in 1948, Initially it functioned as a successor of the former Zemska Art Gallery in several halls of the Uzhhorod Castle.

In 1979 the museum moved into the historic centre of Uzhhorod – to 3, Zhupanatska square to the premises of the former Board of Uzhanskyi County (architectural monument of 1809), where it is located until today. The museum funds were actively formed since 1950-ies from the museum expositions of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv as well as through contributions from various institutions, private collections and the artists themselves. As of today, the museum collection has more than 10 000 exhibits, including paintings, works of graphic art, iconography, sculpture, moulding, decorative and applied arts. The museum building is magnificent, constructed in the late Baroque, two-storeyed with a total area of almost 1.5 thousand square meters. Twice a month in the left wing and central hall it is held changing art exhibitions, and in the right wing it is located the exhibits of the permanent expositions.

The museum collection is divided in several directions. West European art of the XVI – beginning of the XX centuries is represented by the works of masters of different art schools and trends of Italy (Y. Palma, F. Albani, G. da Bologna), France (M. Claude, C. Vernet, J. Brakass, R. Hubert, A. Riesener), the Netherlands and Flanders (L. Lombard, S. Hoogstraeten, A. van den Tempel, C. Bega, and P. Wouwerman), Austria (F. Defregger, K. Wittinhof, J. Stunder, F. Janneck), Germany (F. Roos, F. von Kaulbach), as well as Spain and Denmark. The art of the countries of Central Europe of the XVIII – early XX centuries, in addition to that of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland is represented by one of the most complete and valuable collections of Hungarian artists in Ukraine – M. Munkácsy, I. Revesz, E. Andrassy, S. Bigari, Y. Jendrassik, I. Seni, B. Ivanyi-Grunwald, D. Rudnay, K. Kotasa, V. Aba-Novak, L. Mednyansky, I. Chovka, etc. The considerable value has the exposition of Russian art of XVIII – early XX centuries, which represented by the works of I. Shishkin, I. Aivazovskyi, O. Savrasov, V. MakovskyI, O. Kiprenskyi, V. Tropinin, M. Zaitseva, P. Sokolova, I. Ostroukhova. Also the museum is proud of its collection of 50 paintings and graphic works of the native son of Transcarpathia, well-known Russian impressionist, art critic and restorer, academician I. Grabar, donated by the artist himself in 1955. The Ukrainian art of the XVIII – XX centuries is exhibited by the compositions of I. Brodlakovych-Vyshevskyi, T. Shevchenko, O. Slastion, S. Vasylkivskyi, I. Trush, M. Krychevskyi, M. Pymonenko, Y. Budkevych, O. Murashko, T. Yablonska, M. Hluschenko, M. Derehus, V. Kasiian, etc.

The real gem and perhaps the greatest value of the museum is the collection of works of Transcarpathian School of Painting of the XX – early XXI centuries, which demonstrates the main stages of its origin, formation and prosperity. Here are presented the masterpieces of the coryphaei and founders of the Transcarpathian School Y. Bokshai, A. Erdeli, F. Manailo, works of its classics E. Kontratovych, A. Kotska, A. Boretskyi, G. Gluck, Z. Sholtes, A. Kashshai, V. Habda, V. Mykyta, V. Svyda, the outstanding artists F. Seman, Y. Kremnytska, S. Petki, Y. Stashko, Y. Herts, V. Prykhodko, I. Shutiev, V. Skakandii, Z. Mychka and many others. Part of the exposition is kept in the affiliate institutions of the museum, namely in the memorial houses-museums of F. Manailo and A. Kotska.