The Ivan Franko Lviv National Literary and Memorial Museum has opened the exhibition “Franko. Kaleidoscope”, which invites visitors to see the writer not only as a schoolroom classic, but as a multifaceted personality. The event is dedicated to the 170th anniversary of his birth and the 110th anniversary of Ivan Franko’s death.
The project curator is Pavlo Hudimov, and it is headed by the Director of the Franko House, Bohdan Tykholoz. As they envisaged it, the display combines classical and contemporary art in order to show different stages of the Stonecutter’s life and work, and how his image has taken shape in culture over time.
“The main outcome of this exhibition is a new visual image of Franko. This exhibition is not static – it will change over the course of its display. New emphases and interpretations will appear, and we want people to be able to return to Franko and each time discover something new” – Bohdan Tykholoz
The exhibition has been arranged in two thematic zones – “Day” and “Night”. The daytime section tells the story of Ivan Franko’s daily work, his milieu, and how, over time, a cult of the writer’s figure emerged. “Night” focuses on illness, sleeplessness, death and the memory of the artist. Here, among other things, visitors can see funeral wreaths, Franko’s death mask and models for monuments to him.
As the curator explains, it is precisely through visual imagery that the exhibition’s creators sought to touch delicately on complex themes and to present them in the language of art.
The exhibition “Franko. Kaleidoscope” is on view at the Franko House at: Lviv, vul. Ivana Franka, 150. It will run until 15 November and is open daily, except Tuesdays, from 10:00 to 17:00.