Welcome
Staff at the Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kyiv, one of Europe’s largest art museums and home to a vast collection of Ukrainian avant garde, should be busy preparing for their annual May exhibition. Instead, like other museum staff throughout the country, they are putting their lives in danger as they try to safeguard their treasured collections, while attempting to keep their families safe. Gallery workers who haven’t joined the fighting, are desperately moving collections westwards, or into hiding, while museums are now guarded by hastily-
erected barbed wire fences. Think about the friendly faces at your local museum, often young men and women, and then think about them having to do the same.
It is no great surprise, with Vladimir Putin’s stated aim to destroy the legitimate history of Ukraine, that the country’s cultural centres should come under fire, quite literally. Wiping out the identity of a people by attacking their collective memories and traditions is now a miserable, though standard, tool of 21st-century war.
50 miles north of Kyiv, according to the Museums’ Association, the Ivankiv HistoricalCultural Museum, which housed paintings by the self-taught Ukrainian folk artist Maria Prymachenko (1908–1997), has been destroyed by fire.
In a statement, the Maidan Museum in Kyiv, said: “The best response to Russia’s aggression in the cultural sphere is to increase interest in Ukraine’s history and culture throughout the world.” While our response is limited, we will do what we can. In upcoming issues we hope to bring you articles on Ukraine’s cultural heritage, celebrating the country’s unsung heroes both past and present.
Back to this month’s packed magazine where, on page 20, we consider the prints of the pioneering British modernist Water Sickert on the eve of an exhibition at the Tate (they are more affordable than you might think); on page 16, Christina Trevanion puts black forest ware in the spotlight; and on page 36, eight well-known antiques experts share their rostrum triumphs and disasters. Enjoy the issue.
FIRST WORD
IN THIS ISSUE
CHARLES HANSON praises the work of the Derbyshire painter George Turner, page 19
JENNIE FISHER on why collectors should tune into the prints of Walter Sickert, page 20
BEATRICE CAMPI goes behind the scenes at the sale of Buddhist and Hindu art, page 34
Georgina Wroe, Editor
KEEP IN TOUCH Write to us at Antique Collecting, Sandy Lane, Old Martlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4SD, or email magazine@accartbooks.com. Visit the website at www.antique-collecting.co.uk and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @AntiqueMag
Antique Collecting subscription £38 for 10 issues annually,
no refund is available.
ISSN: 0003-584X
We love
Our Army, Our Protectors by the Ukrainian folk artist, Maria Prymachenko (1908–1997), whose work was destroyed by Russian forces
#StandWithUkraine
ADAM PARTRIDGE shares his tales from the rostrum,
with seven other well-known faces, page 36
THE TEAM
Editor: Georgina Wroe, georgina.
wroe@accartbooks.com Online Editor: Richard Ginger, richard.ginger@accartbooks.com
Design: Philp Design, james@philpdesign.co.uk Advertising: Charlotte Kettell 01394 389969, charlotte.kettell
@accartbooks.com Subscriptions: Jo Lord jo.lord@accartbooks.com
ANTIQUE COLLECTING 3
