Colonial and Political Imprints on the Odesa Fine Arts Museum’s Permanent Exhibition (Late 1920s-Early 1940s)

• In Event: Creative Resilience and Adaptation: Artistic Endeavors from the Empire's Fall to the Stalinist Era

Abstract

The paper explores the transformation of museum policies in Soviet Ukraine through a case study of the Odesa Fine Arts Museum and its evolving permanent exhibition from the 1920s to the 1940s. It critically assesses the adaptation of the museum’s exhibition strategies amid the era’s extensive political and societal changes. By analyzing previously unpublished documents, the study illuminates the ways in which Soviet governance influenced the representation of Ukrainian and Jewish artistic heritage, along with the museum’s endeavors to present a cohesive narrative of national, local, and Soviet art.

Author

• Pavel Golubev, U of Pennsylvania