A. Ivanova. Lenin's Order. Panel

The photo shows the exposition of the exhibition project dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Lenin's birth (opened on 17.03.1970 in the Manezh Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow), which included the work of Antonina Ivanova. It should be emphasised that the Ukrainian-language inscription written in simple pencil under the photo ("Ivanova A. M. Lenin's Order. Panel. 1969 Moscow"), in our opinion, refers to the date of the work's creation, not the date of the exhibition. The panel "Lenin's Order" was probably mentioned in the correspondence between Antonina Ivanova and Oksana Pavlenko. According to the researcher Oksana Storchai, in Letter No. 38 (23.12.1969, Moscow) "I have barely submitted the work to the Lenin Jubilee Exhibition", the All-Union Jubilee Art Exhibition is mentioned, for which, in our opinion, this work could have been intended (for details: Antonina Ivanova's Letters to Oksana Pavlenko 1965–1971... p. 383). From a thematic point of view, this work was rather devoted to the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of December 1919 "On the Elimination of Illiteracy Among the Population of the RSFSR", namely to the conditions, process and results of its practical implementation (for example, the All-Russian Voluntary Association "Away with Illiteracy", 1923). Other artists from Mykhailo Boichuk's circle have similarly themed works, such as Vasyl Sedliar's painting "At the School of Likbez" (1929, in the collection of the National Art Museum of Ukraine). The artist made versions of certain scenes in the 1930s (as evidenced by other photographs from Antonina Ivanova's archive). Given that the important painters of the Moscow group, in particular in the practice of Serhii Luchyshkin, had consonant motifs in the late 1920s, when, according to the artist, book markets were actively held and the exhibition project of the Russian Society of Easel Painters "The Feast of the Book" was organised under the patronage of Anatolii Lunacharskyi (for more details: Luchyshkin S. (1988). I love life very much. Pages of memories. Moscow: Soviet artist, 115–118). It should be noted that Serhii Luchyshkin was acquainted with Mykhailo Lezviiev; in the mid-1930s, he travelled to Kabardino-Balkaria and took part in an exhibition of paintings by Moscow artists, one of the exhibitors of which was Antonina Ivanova's husband (according to the poster, the exhibition was organised by the Kabardino-Balkaria Art Department and the Moscow Union of Soviet Artists and opened on November 11, 1936 at the Kabardino-Balkarian Pedagogical Institute (Zatyshshia). Details: Luchyshkin S. (1988). I love life very much. Pages of memories. Moscow: Soviet artist, 138–149). Therefore, we can assume there was a working or informal communication between Serhii Luchyshkin, Lezviiev, and Ivanova earlier. Thus, compiling a more detailed list of the latter's exhibitions will be possible. Although, as Serhii Luchyshkin himself noted, most of his pre-war archive was lost during the fighting. Among the key ideas in this composition, the technique close to sacred painting practices is noteworthy, where the decree is visualised in the icon's border scenes that tell about the document as an animated real figure. Other ideas in this work by Antonina Ivanova include scenes of children and adults learning, images of emancipated women and motifs of a general revolution of the spirit due to the events of October 1917. It is no coincidence that one of the slogans of this illiteracy campaign was "We are not slaves; slaves are not us". It should be emphasised that the russian version of this text has an important symbolic connotation: the negative expression "not us" corresponds to the adjective "nemi", i.e. "mute". Thus, in this ideological context, it was read to mean that it was the Revolution that gave the "mute" people their voice back, making them not only visible but also active participants in the state-building process, who, as Lev Trotsky noted, came to the forefront of history. Separate graphic and pictorial sketches for this panel are preserved in the Gallery's collection.

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery