Maria Prymachenko
Smash their culture, smash their art, smash their history, smash their beauty.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has reportedly led to the destruction of roughly 25 works by the beloved Ukrainian folk painter, Maria Prymachenko. https://t.co/VubLptnbw4
— VICE (@VICE) March 1, 2022
On February 25, the Ivankiv Historical and Local History Museum was burned. It is not yet confirmed how many of the museum's holdings survived, but the loss is a blow to Ukraine’s cultural history, its collective spirit, and its artistic soul. https://t.co/AHi48IEkI1 pic.twitter.com/kOu26zS9hI
— VICE (@VICE) March 1, 2022
Prymachenko, who died in 1997, was known to transform cultural motifs into vivid and wildly imagined narratives, in which elephants longed to be sailors, horses traveled to outer space, and villagers hijacked giant serpents. https://t.co/AHi48IEkI1 pic.twitter.com/X5hFbF42gd
— VICE (@VICE) March 1, 2022
Also in 1978, she painted a heavily ornamented pink lion whose tongue is a double-forked bright green serpent. The piece is called, ”May That Nuclear War Be Cursed!” https://t.co/AHi48IEkI1 pic.twitter.com/DEXFmiPyz1
— VICE (@VICE) March 1, 2022
Tragic. I hope that they were all carefully photographed from all angles. Probably weren’t.
At least we’ve got some digital records… Napoleon was keen on preserving some of the art of the nations he conquered but there was so much lost.