Pinzel’s Mystery was presented in Ternopil

Pinzel’s Mystery, a unique illustrated catalog, comprising for the first time all the works by the famous sculptor that are currently held by Ukrainian institutions, was presented in Ternopil on the eve of Johann Georg Pinzel’s exhibition’s opening at the Louvre.

The Ternopil art critic Vira Stetsko, who has been exploring the “Galician Michelangelo’s” legacy for 30 years, compiled the catalog, while the designer and photographer Kostiantyn Sachek created replicas of Pinzel’s sculptures for it. The book was published by the Kyiv Maister Knyh Company and funded by the Ternopil businessman and philanthropist Taras Demkura.

The catalog displays 55 extant artworks, including those currently exhibited in Paris. Photographs of lost works are published in a separate section. The catalog lists museums and churches that hold the masterpieces, and includes a map with directions for tourists, as well as a lot of references and notes.

“Since our French colleagues pay all the costs of the exhibition, they have printed a French-only catalog of Pinzel’s works that participate in it. I regretted us presenting such an excellent exhibition without a Ukrainian-language catalog, and immediately determined to do everything possible to ensure that we had a catalog of our own. I think it is an excellent illustration and an organic complement for the exhibition,” Stetsko said.

The illustrated catalog Pinzel’s Mystery is a tribute to the late Borys Voznytsky, a famous art critic who had long dreamed of Pinzel’s works’ being exhibited at the Louvre and worked to make it happen. Only 1,000 copies have been published so far, but an additional print run is planned to make the book accessible at bookstores and libraries in Ukraine. Presentations of Pinzel’s Mystery will be held also in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Kyiv and in Buchach, where Johann Georg Pinzel lived and worked.