.: MYSTETSTVO U KNIKI 1920 Chislo 1

Quarto 30.5x22.7 cm., original wrappers, 82pp. Cover, frontispiece, decorations and

tailpieces by Heorhii Narbut. A literary and artistic review. Mystetstvo (Art) was an important

journal which appeared in eight numbers between May and July of 1919 in Kyiv, one later in 1919 and one in April of 1920. The editors were Hnat Mykhailychenko and Mykhailo Semenko.

Contributors included some of the most significant figures in the arts: Blakytny, Burachek, Narbut, Petrytskyi, Polishchuk, Slivchenko, Tychyna, Koriak, Yaroshenko, inter alia.

This was the first number to appear in 1920 and also its last. Notably, Heorhii Narbut worked as the illustrator for this number. Narbut (1886-1920) is widely acknowledged as the greatest Ukrainian illustrator of the 20th century. Ilnytskyi* notes that Semenko (1892-1937) was able to establish a legitimacy for himself among Ukrainian writers who were previously dismissive or hostile to him through this journal. Semenko requires an extensive biographical note in Ukrainian literary history, but here as a Futurist he was welcomed into the Soviet fold (Russia had defeated the Ukrainian Republic in early 1919 and was eager to absorb its creative talents). It is important to note that during this entire time Ukraine was overrun by White forces in 1919 and in 1920 by Poland. The country was shut down without electricity, there was famine and massive destruction. Many of the journal's contributors were killed in the Civil War. As a result of ongoing cultural and political purges, many of the publications were lost or destroyed. Copies of the Mytetstvo journal are extremely rare. OCLC finds no holdings for them worldwide. The present work is in superb condition and is a real treasure. *Refs: Ilnytskyi, Ukrainian Futurism 1914-1930, pp. 44-48.