7 October 2023 – 7 April 2024
For over 60 years, Maria Prymachenko created art based profoundly on her Ukrainian upbringing and wildly creative imagination. Despite having no formal art training, Prymachenko over the years was able to create a wide range of art: drawings, paintings, ceramics, illustrations, and even embroidered garments. She was known during her lifetime for her brilliantly colored and inventive scenes of animals – lions, bears, birds, horses, and strange behemoths – covered in riotously hued, almost psychedelic patterns. Additional themes included traditional village life, the Ukrainian landscape, and flowers. Always drawing on village traditions and later dreams for inspiration, Prymachenko also included creative critiques about various dramatic social events in her work. During the mid and late 20th century, she was Ukraine’s most beloved artist; her artworks have appeared on stamps and even the country’s coinage.
This exhibition at The Ukrainian Museum will feature over 100 paintings, unique ceramic works, bespoke embroidered blouses, wooden plates, and several children’s illustration books. The exhibition will highlight Prymachenko’s creative talent and visionary outsider esthetics born out of a history of traditional Ukrainian village arts and crafts movements. This will be the first exhibition of Prymachenko’s art outside of Europe.
