The publication The Art of Ukraine represents a foundational monograph mapping the trajectory of Ukrainian visual art from the late 19th century to the present day. Author Alisa Lozhkina employs a methodology that moves beyond a strictly ethnic interpretation, adopting a geographical and territorial perspective. The key to her selection of artists lies in reflecting the complex exchange of cultures, languages, and nations within a specific, shifting territory. This approach frames Ukrainian art as a multicultural mosaic, integrating Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, Russian, and Austro-Hungarian influences. The book effectively deconstructs Rusocentric narratives that have historically subsumed Ukrainian modernism and avant-garde movements under the label of “Russian art”.
In his critical introduction, Tomáš Glanc contextualizes Lozhkina’s work within broader art-historical methodology, addressing the challenges of constructing “national histories”. He emphasizes that in a post-imperial context, defining a national culture is a delicate task necessitating a decolonial lens. Glanc highlights Lozhkina’s ability to bridge art-historical analysis with the politics of collective memory and human dignity, a connection particularly evident in her accounts of the “Red Renaissance” and contemporary artistic responses to war. The result portrays Ukrainian art as a continuous and sovereign cultural phenomenon that maintains its creative resistance despite the traumas of Sovietization and ongoing military aggression.
The publication was scientifically reviewed by Rita Lyons Kindlerová, M.A. The Art of Ukraine is a translation of the publication The Art of Ukraine (Thames & Hudson, 2024), which is an edited and updated version of the author’s book Permanent Revolution: Art in Ukraine, the 20th to the Early 21st Century (Art Huss, 2019). The book is published as part of the Central and Eastern Europe Edition of the Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové, with financial support from the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the State Cultural Fund of the Czech Republic.
Text: Alisa Lozhkina
Translation: Karolína Kučerová
Translations from Ukrainian and expert editing: Rita Lyons Kindlerová
Foreword: Tomáš Glanc
Number of pages: 304
Year of publication: 2025
ISBN: 978-80-88659-18-1
Published by the Gallery of Modern Art in Hradec Králové
The publication is available for purchase at the GMU e-shop.
