This is an automatically translated description

"The Beast of War. Naïve Art from Ukraine" is a catalogue of the exhibition opened at the Open Art Museum in St Gallen, Switzerland.

"It is extremely pleasant that the most interesting names of the Ukrainian "classical" naïve art of the twentieth century will be presented in Switzerland in the museum space of the Open Art Museum - Maria Prymachenko, Hryhorii Ksenz, Panas and Yakylyna Yarmolenko, Oleksandra Shabatura, Hanna Shabatura, Kateryna Bilokur (her portrait of Oli Bilokur), Yakiv Yushchenko, Ivan Lysenko, Tetiana Pata, and others - writes Petro Honchar, director of the Ivan Honchar Museum, in the foreword to the catalogue. - "I hope that the exhibition will reveal the main sources on which many of our naïve artists grew up and which were often folk! Prymachenko, the Homeniuk sisters, and the Petrykivka craftswomen Pat, Vlasenko, and Pylypenko all started with folk traditions - embroidery, wall painting, and paper drawings that decorated the interiors of their homes. I am glad that the exhibition will also feature charming anonymous works by masters from Poltava, Cherkasy, Sumy, and Kharkiv, which are rich in Ukrainian folk and naïve art and which I particularly admire. These artists, like the painters of icons, often did not put their names or sign their works because they did not consider it as important as the drawing itself. They put all their talent and soul into their works."

In her opening remarks, Monika Jagfeld, director of the Open Art Museum, reflects on the preservation of artistic heritage and the destruction of museums during the war, on the duty of the international community to protect and preserve cultural heritage for future generations, on Maria Prymachenko as a modern icon of Ukrainian art and on Ukrainian art in general, which is increasingly being discovered in Western Europe, but remains terra incognita. "This lack of cultural awareness is addressed by the exhibition "The Beast of War. Naïve Art from Ukraine" in St. Gallen, curated by Lidia Lykhach, RODOVID Gallery, Kyiv. This is the first exhibition of Ukrainian naïve art in Switzerland, which is the result of a challenge to better understand Ukrainian culture and society. By temporarily relocating the works from Ukraine, these treasures of art and culture will become visible, drawing public attention to the need to take action to preserve and protect movable cultural heritage in general and especially the cultural heritage of Ukraine. Even if the current military situation encourages the preservation of artistic and cultural property from Ukraine, the focus of the exhibition is on the cultural identity and rootedness associated with works of art. In the context of the war, the exhibition "The Beast of War" provides an opportunity to draw public attention to the relevance and existential need for identity-creating art," writes Monika Jagfeld, co-curator of the exhibition and director of the museum.

The catalogue was created by RODOVID Publishing House and the Open Art Museum team in three languages - German, Ukrainian, English (inside) with three different covers (to choose from).