A Living Tradition in Lines and Images: Iliustroteka, Supported by PFRU, Opens at Mystetskyi Arsenal

Illustration is one of the most powerful ways of speaking about culture, memory, and the continuity of artistic tradition. It offers a lens through which to see how a distinctly Ukrainian visual language has been shaped and carried forward – from early modernist experimentation to today’s artistic responses to war, loss, freedom, and the lived experience of contemporary Ukraine.

Ukraine’s international partners, through the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine (PFRU), support initiatives that foster social cohesion and strengthen a pluralistic yet unified Ukrainian identity.

With PFRU support, the exhibition “Iliustroteka: Ukrainian Illustration Across the Twenties” has opened at Mystetskyi Arsenal. The project explores Ukrainian graphic art of the first third of the twentieth century – its origins, visual language, and its dialogue with contemporary illustration and art.

The exhibition runs until 10 May 2026.

Iliustroteka invites audiences to view Ukrainian illustration as a living, continuous tradition that continues to be reinterpreted and renewed in the present. Its roots lie at the intersection of European graphic art, Ukrainian folk art, and modern artistic movements. The period from 1917 to the mid-1930s was especially formative, marking a dynamic moment in the development of a distinctive graphic language that became an important part of Ukraine’s cultural identity.

The exhibition is curated by Oleh Hryshchenko and Olena Staranchuk. Featured artists include Heorhii Narbut, Ivan Padalka, Tymko Boichuk, Sofia Nalepynska-Boichuk, Mariia Kotliarevska, and others. Their works are presented alongside those of leading contemporary Ukrainian illustrators, creating a dialogue between generations and showing how the ideas, imagery, and artistic principles of the past continue to resonate in Ukrainian illustration today.

The exhibition is organised around four thematic sections: the art of the book cover, schools of Ukrainian graphic art, children’s illustration, and illustration beyond the book. One of its central installations is Heorhii Narbut’s alphabet – an iconic work of early twentieth-century Ukrainian graphic art that contemporary illustrators have continued through their own interpretations, enriching it with present-day imagery ranging from war and bomb shelters to ironic scenes of everyday life. The exhibition includes both original works and digital reprints.

“Iliustroteka” presents Ukrainian illustration as a living tradition – one that preserves cultural continuity while continually finding new ways to speak to the present.