Fears that precious works of art may never return to Ukraine are sabotaging years of talks and preparations for a planned exhibition of 18th century sculptor Ioann (Johann) Pinzel at the Louvre Museum in Paris. Several of Pinzel’s key works are located in churches that have little trust in museum workers and Ukrainian officials.
Pinzel is known to have lived in western Ukraine’s Halychyna region in the mid-18th century, where he was sponsored by local count Mikolaj Potocki.
His wooden and stone baroque sculptures mostly depict biblical characters. Around 60 have survived and are spread between the sculptor’s hometown of Buchach and nearby villages, as well as art museums throughout western Ukraine.
When Louvre experts came to Ukraine in 2009 to see Pinzel’s works and pick some for the exhibition, they could hardly imagine the conflict that would follow their selection of the Deacon Gate sculpture, located in a Buchach church.
The city of 12,500, located in Ternopil oblast, was far from enthusiastic about giving away Pinzel’s piece, even for a Louvre exhibition. According to Mykola Kozak, art historian at the Buchach Regional Studies Museum, the people’s trust had been damaged in 1986, when several sculptures were temporarily taken from Buchach for an exhibition in Lviv but never returned.
The Deacon Gate has a similar story. After being removed from the Greek Catholic Church in Buchach during Soviet times, it was given back to the church in 2009, but only for seven years. Many think it should stay.
The church of Rukomysh village, near Buchach, hosts Pinzel’s statue of Saint Onuphrius, also made specially for this church. It has never left the building, but the Louvre wants it, too. “Now the chances that our statue will go to the Louvre are 50-50,” said local priest Father Mykhailo Sukanets. He said neither the church nor village was offered money in return for leasing out the artwork.
“People here consider Saint Onuphrius to be their special guard. So they surely don’t want the statue to leave the village,” he added.
The situation is even more complicated since the Rukomysh church was severely damaged by a recent rock slide. Repairing the church might cost up to Hr 250,000, a colossal sum for a village of 40 households. According to the reverend, it makes the Saint Onuphrius statue even more precious, since people trust that their guardian will help rebuild the 18th century church. A giant falling rock stopped only centimeters in front of the statue, the priest said.
However, the Louvre still promotes the exhibition as hosting 29 sculptures. “A guarantee [to return the art works to Ukraine] is written in the loan contracts, as usual when international institutions organize exhibitions,” Louvre’s spokeswoman Laurence Roussel said in a written statement to the Kyiv Post. “All the sculptures coming from Ukraine will go back to their owners after the end of the exhibition.”
However, the people of Buchach and Rukomysh say they haven’t seen the loan contracts. “We might agree if there were guarantees about getting the sculpture back,” said Father Mykhailo.
Buchach is worried about guarantees as well. Parliamentary Vasyl Derevlyanny filed a letter to the Culture Ministry asking to make sure that Deacon Gates are officially given to the Buchach church community, but no answer has been received.
“I understand why people react like that,” said Vira Stetsko, an art historian from Ternopil Regional Studies Museum, who participated in the talks with the Louvre.
“Work with documents could be better. One of the reasons why they worry is that works are taken away now, while the exhibition only starts in November. But that’s only because sculptures need to be restored before going to France. They are also going to be back in April, while the exhibition will end in February. That scares people, too,” she added.
Stetsko confirmed that Louvre representatives have already developed and presented to Ukraine the plans of the exhibition, including the location of Pinzel’s works in the institution’s halls. The exhibition will run between Nov. 22 and Feb. 25. Those Louvre visitors who buy 11 euro tickets to the permanent exposition, will have access to the exhibition.
Kyiv Post staff writer Olga Rudenko can be reached at [email protected]
