1933 "Famine" Edition of T.H. Shevchenko's
Kobzar* |
1933 “Famine” Edition
of T.H. Shevchenko’s Kobzar*
Intro
by Andrew Fedynsky, UMA Director
In 1932-33, Ukraine had bountiful crops
of grain, yet the country was gripped by famine – the result
of Joseph Stalin's collectivization policy. In order to force people
to give up their land to the state, he ordered an army of Communist
Party activists to seize grain and other food from Ukraine's independent
farmers. In one of the greatest crimes in history, more than seven
million Ukrainian peasants were deliberately starved to death.
This coincided with a period of terror that was unleashed against
Ukrainian artists and cultural figures. For more than fifty years
afterward, any mention of the Famine and the Terror was subject
to total censorship in Soviet Ukraine. Eyewitness accounts and
other records from this period were suppressed and destroyed.
One of the few surviving works illustrating these horrible times
can be found in the UMA's collection. This is the extraordinary
1933 "Famine" edition of Taras Shevchenko's Kobzar, featuring
drawings by Vasyl Sedliar (1899-1937). Although Shevchenko
wrote his "Kobzar" in the 19th Century, the 48 full-page
sketches and accompanying verses from Shevchenko's poems
that illustrate this edition make it clear that Sedliar and his
editor, Andriy Richytsky (1890-1934), were commenting on Stalin's
Famine and not Tsarist Russia. Reminiscent of Henri Matisse, Sedliar
shows great technical skill as well as breathtaking artistic courage
in these long-forgotten drawings. Despite inquiries, we have been
unable to determine the location of the originals of these drawings
or whether they still exist.
Both Sedliar and Richytsky were arrested and shot by the NKVD
(Soviet Secret Police).
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* This online exhibit in all of its
aspects, textual and illustrative, copyright © 2006 by
the Ukrainian Museum-Archives (UMA), Cleveland, with all rights
strictly reserved and may not be copied or used in any way without
the express written permission by the UMA. |
Cover page |
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Page 15 |
Cover Page |
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Page 15: “She left the village — and
her heart sank; she turned and looked back…” |
Page
24 |
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page
51 |
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".Oksana at the door: "They killed him! They killed him!" |
Page 61 |
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Page 85 |
"Everywhere are gallows in the villages: Hung with corpses -" |
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"Unassisted, he smashes at the dungeon. " |
Page 99 |
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Page 101 |
".They tear a ragged shirt from off the cripple. Rip it off, skin and all." |
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".These are people, living people poured into shackles to carry gold from out of burrows." |
Page 117 |
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Page 147 |
"Upon the apostolic throne, the friar sits well-fed." |
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".In all tongues, all remain silent, for all is prosperity, there are no cares!" |
Page 167 |
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Page 197 |
".rise up. Tear off your shackles and baptize liberty with vile, evil blood!" |
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".The prince carouses, his guests carouse, the palaces on high are full of revelry while in the village famine groans." |
Page 221 |
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Page 241 |
"Off to the campaign, the famous light horse kozaks moved out at the dawning of the day." |
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"To raise the temperature for him, they brought the King a higher form of beauty." |
Page 267 |
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Page 301 |
".As if people had gone mad - they march dumbstruck into serfdom and take their children with them." |
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". Over the tilled fields the gravediggers in the village drag corpses hung from chains." |
Page 323 |
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Page 349 |
".And then one the youngest of all, turned around and stuck the lord with the tines of the fork." |
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".The overseer in the fields runs and let's me have it but good." |
PAGE 375 |
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Page 387 |
".When shackled in their hundreds, the sacred slaves were hounded to Siberia." |
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"And the slaves upon those paths gathered all together happy and gay!" |
