In May 2022, the Confucius Institute of Vilnius University organised a series of three lectures on "Masterpieces of Chinese Art from the Collection of the National Bohdan and Varvara Chanenko Art Museum (Chanenko Museum)" by Marta Logvyn, art historian and expert in Chinese art, researcher at the Chanenko Museum (Kyiv, Ukraine). The lectures were held remotely.
The series of three lectures is based exclusively on Chinese art objects in the museum's collection. The Chanenko Museum holds one of the largest collections of Asian art in Ukraine, and the Chinese part of the collection is currently the largest in the country. Founded in the late 19th century as a private collection of world art, the museum became a state museum in 1919, during the most difficult period of the Ukrainian Revolution. Since then, the museum has undergone many transformations, but it still houses exceptional Chinese paintings and bronze sculptures that were acquired by its founders just before the First World War. In the 1950s, traditional elite paintings, elaborate garments and carvings in ivory and jade, as well as new propaganda art, entered the museum's collection from various sources. Today, the collection is growing thanks to the friends and patrons of the museum. The museum has repeatedly collaborated with the Confucius Institute of Kyiv to present new exhibitions. Before the Russian invasion, the Chinese Art Hall had about 300 art objects, which is about 1/10th of the entire Chinese collection.
The lectures included a "virtual tour" of the Chanenko Museum's collection of Chinese art, the diversity of which allows you to explore many aspects of Chinese culture.
The first lecture "On the Walls of Wealthy Homes, in the Luggage of a Future KGB Agent. The Multitude of Art Objects in the Museum’s Collection and their Provenance" gave an overview of the Chinese art collection, featuring paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, folk woodcuts, and some rare books from the Museum's library. It is a story of things and personalities, acquisitions, and losses from late 19th to early 21st century, also about museum's founders, Bohdan Chanenko and Varvara Chanenko, who bought the first 17th century Chinese paintings at an auction in Paris in 1914, marking the beginning of the Chinese art collection. Later, Bohdan acquired bronze sculptures, porcelain, decorative textiles and glassware. After the death of her husband, Varvara Chanenko arranged for the museum to be transformed from a private museum to a public one.
In the second lecture, "A bird is not just a bird. A flower is not just a flower. Symbolic Meanings of Nature Images in Traditional Chinese Painting" looked at the symbolism used in bird and flower paintings, an important genre of classical Chinese painting. Buddhism and Taoism, folk beliefs and imperial patronage shaped and celebrated this genre. This lecture was particularly interesting to delve into the symbolic meanings of plants and animals and the ways in which they are represented in Chinese art. For example, the plum tree, whose blossom appears in early spring before the snow has melted, symbolizes endurance, the beauty and strength of the plum blossom is often celebrated in poems, and the concept of happiness is often conveyed through the representation of the plum tree in painting. The willow tree is a symbol of hospitality and a pleasant environment, and in poetry the willow tree is compared to the beauty of a woman, but in certain historical periods the Chinese did not plant it outside their homes, as it was also associated with loose behavior. It was also interesting to find out which plants we don't see in Chinese paintings and why.
Birds are often seen alongside plants in Chinese art, and they are encoded with certain meanings. A pair of ducks, for example, is a symbol of a long and happy marriage; a peacock is a symbol of happiness and good luck.
Have you ever noticed a hero or deity in a painting? In the third lecture, "Heroes, Wizards and Deities. Representation of All Things Extraordinary in Chinese Paintings and Literature" focused on heroes, magicians, and deified beings. The shen genre of depicting gods, goddesses and spirits has a long history, from murals in famous mountain temples to cheap woodblock prints accessible to the poorest people. Everyone hoped that the image of a deity or a hero would offer them protection and spiritual support. Whether it was sorcerers bringing symbols of peaceful living or military heroes who became deities, these characters were popular among all social classes.
This lecture was the perfect opportunity to discover your hero. It covered what a hero is, when we can call him a hero and how he is portrayed in the visual arts, what heroes are depicted in theatre, how magical realism developed, and the most common male and female deities.
The lectures have been delivered by Marta Logvyn who is a leading research fellow at The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Art (Kyiv, Ukraine). Marta Logvyn studied the Chinese language in Kyiv, Ukraine as well as in Beijing Language and Culture University (PRC) and got her M.A. degree in the Chinese language and literature at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in 2000. Studying language and culture was inseparable from learning about fine and folk arts, performing arts and architecture. In 2010 she joined the team of The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Art to work on research and presentation of the Chinese painting and woodblock prints. Marta Logvyn was a curator of 9 exhibitions of the traditional Chinese arts from the museum’s collection and 3 exhibitions of contemporary Chinese artists and calligraphers. She also works in a close contact with colleagues in other departments developing museum “edutainment” programs that balance scientific information with entertainment and immersion into world cultures. “Our work has always been and is to protect the world’s cultural heritage and represent it to our patrons. In the times of peace we had an immense positive feedback from our domestic audience. Now facing cruel challenges of war we still stick to our values and look for opportunities to spread the word about the Chinese art in our museum’s collection. I am grateful to Vilnius University Confucius Institute for inviting me to give these talks.”
You can listen to the recordings of the lectures on our Youtube channel: