On friendship, affection, and devotion

It is very symbolic that the Ancient Greek “anima” means soul. This very word is the leitmotif of all that we will be able to see on the second floor of Kyiv’s House of the Artist from the coming Friday onwards. On January 25 this place unveils an art exhibition, “Noah’s Ark,” devoted to animals. The organizers – first of all, the Exhibition Directorate of the National League of Ukrainian Artists – are sure that the artistic expression of this subject will arouse keen interest on the part of the general public. The exposition combines all the varieties of fine arts and the world of our pets – it is in fact an exhibit about friendship, affection, and devotion.

The exposition displays more than 300 canvases by various authors from all the nooks of Ukraine. There are also a lot of young artists among those who supported the project. For example, Tetiana Cherevan brought in the picture I Will Never Lose Myself of the “Totem” series, which portrays Yulia Cherniaieva, a Cherkasy-based active participant in animalistic movement.

“If you visit the exhibit “Noah’s Ark,” you will receive not only a charge of positive energy and an artistic impulse, but also an opportunity to help the animal refuge Sirius. This project has been in fact launched for them,” Tetiana Cherevan says.

The exhibit will hold a fund-raising campaign to support the animal refuge Sirius. It was set up as long ago as 2000 in the village of Yasnohorodka, Kyiv oblast, and now exists at the expense of the founders of a homonymous charitable foundation and animal lovers from Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv, and Cherkasy. They have been doing active work over the past 12 years in the sterilization and settlement of dogs and cats and the humane solution of the problem of an immense number of stray animals.

Animalism is one of the oldest genres in art. Stylized figures of beasts and birds occurred in the art of even the primeval world. The depictions of real and mythical animal were distinguished for unsurpassable viability and monumentality in the art of the Ancient Orient, in the “animal-style” monuments of Europe and Asia (including those of the Scythians, Sarmatians, and Saka), and in the Antique and Hellenistic art. The European animalistic genre was formed in the 17th century. One hundred years on, portraits of four-legged home pets gained great popularity. In the 19th century, not only domestic animals, but also wild beasts became the object of easel paintings, battle-scene and hunting pictures. The 20th century saw artists of various schools create the images of beats and birds. Animals became characters of urban and rural landscapes, dramatic hunt scenes, genre paintings, and battle-scene canvases.

The exhibition “Noah’s Ark” will remain open at the House of the Artist (Lvivska Square, 1-5 Artema St.) until February 4. Admission is free.