Another painting stolen by Russians from Kherson Art Museum has been identified – photos
Staff at the Oleksii Shovkunenko Kherson Oblast Art Museum have identified another work stolen by Russian forces – a still life painting, Suvenirnyi, by Nina Marchenko.
Source: Kherson Art Museum
Details: Museum staff spotted the work in a photograph taken in March 2023 at the Central Museum of Taurida in temporarily occupied Crimea.
Nina Marchenko is an Honoured Artist of Ukraine and a graduate of the Kyiv State Art Institute, where she studied in the studio of painter Serhii Hryhoriev, as well as of the creative workshops of the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine.
She is known for paintings exploring history, war and motherhood, as well as a landmark series from the 1990s on the Holodomor, the man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine carried out by the Stalinist authorities.
Marchenko painted the still life Suvenirnyi in 1986.
Quote from the Kherson Art Museum: "This is a classic example of a decorative and thematic still life, which today opens up interesting contexts of the era.
During Soviet times, artists were required to promote the ideology of the 'unity of peoples'. That is why Marchenko brought together Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian souvenirs on the canvas. Yet instead of poster-style Soviet propaganda, the artist managed to show the living and genuine beauty of folk crafts."
More details: Russian soldiers looted the Kherson Art Museum in early November 2022. They removed items from the collection in lorries over four days, accompanied by armed men in civilian clothes. The "evacuation" was overseen by Natalia Desiatova, the "director" appointed by the Russian occupation authorities.
As they withdrew from Kherson, the Russians stole works by Tetiana Yablonska, Mykhailo Shaposhnykov, Kostiantyn Trutovsky and many others.
Later, paintings from the Kherson Art Museum "surfaced" at the Simferopol Art Museum, where they were recognised by Alina Dotsenko, Director of the Kherson Art Museum. After retreating from Kherson, Russian forces also bombarded the museum.
The Kherson Art Museum continues to identify stolen paintings and sculptures from photographs and news reports. In mid-April, staff identified two works by Kherson artist Yehor Tolkunov. So far, the museum has identified more than 130 stolen works.
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