When Oleksandr Oleksiuk shows up at Kyiv flea markets, the vendors immediately tell him: “We have nothing new about Shevchenko.”
A 67-year
old artist from Kyiv, OIeksiuk is obsessed with Ukraine’s famous poet Taras
Shevchenko. In 10 years he gathered a vast collection of some 5,000 artifacts dedicated
to the poet.
Oleksiuk recalls
that his hobby started when he got an ordinary offer from one of his clients.
“One man
asked me to paint a replica of Shevchenko’s ‘Kateryna’ (the portrait Shevchenko
painted in 1842 to illustrate one of his most famous poems) in a limited time,”
Oleksiuk says. “He gave me prepayment of $10. But he never came back to pick up
the portrait.”
The artist decided
to keep the painting for himself. Soon more Shevchenko-related things followed,
found at the flea markets.
Since then,
Oleksiuk’s two-room apartment in Kyiv turned into small Shevchenko museum. Every
wall is covered with the paintings depicting Shevchenko in different times of
his life; the shelves are piled with Shevchenko books.
Now the
artist aims to find a place to open real museum to exhibit his collection as
Ukraine prepares to celebrate the 200’s anniversary of Shevchenko’s birthday on
March 9 this year.
The
collector says he gathered around 200 editions of “Kobzar,” Shevchenko’s most famous
book of poems, published in late 19th and early 20th century. The biggest
collection of “Kobzar” editions, according to Oleksiuk, is owned by Ukraine’s
first President Leonid Kravchuk.
Oleksiuk’s
collection also includes dozens of stamps, some 300 badges, which he says were the
easiest to get. Also Oleksiuk managed to get dozens of Soviet time posters
about Shevchenko, mugs, coins, postcards, books, inkpots and portrait
sculptures.
He’s a
frequent guest at antique shops in Kyiv, Lviv and in Crimea, where the artist
usually works in summer time. It’s difficult to identify how many items Oleksiuk
managed to add to his collection.
“Sometimes
I forget whether I have this stamp or book in my collection already. I guess I
have thousands of such stuff now,” Oleksiuk explains.
Such
collection comes with a price. Oleksiuk’s main income comes from painting
portraits on the streets of Crimea where he goes to every summer.
“Everything
I earn during the summer I usually spend on the items for my collection,” he
says.
Last summer
Oleksiuk decided to put his collection in order and started putting the items
in showcases. The artist wants to launch a gallery with free entrance where
everyone would be allowed to touch any item. Oleksiuk stressed it shouldn’t be a
traditional museum. The gallery should be at least 100 square meters to fit the
whole collection. He would prefer to open it in Ivano Frankivsk, his home
region, because “Kyiv already has a good Shevchenko museum.”
“Such place
will be good for school children, because they need to know about Shevchenko
more than they can learn from school,” Oleksiuk said.
The painter
believes Shevchenko’s art needs “more propaganda among Ukrainians.”
The artist
admits it’s kind of ritual to him to check antique shops every weekend.
“I can’t
help picking up everything I see that has to do with Shevchenko,” Oleksiuk
explains.
“It’s kind
of disease,” he adds, laughing.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olena Goncharova can be
reached at [email protected].
