Press releases

VITEBSK, 12 July (BelTA) - The most complete catalogue of Yehuda Pen’s works was presented in the Vitebsk Art Museum on 12 July, BelTA has learned.

The presentation of the catalogue issued by the Belarus publishing house was the key event of a ceremony to open the exhibition of Yehuda Pen’s works from the holdings of the Vitebsk Art Museum. Director Olga Akunevich noted that it is already the second catalogue. The first one was issued in 2006 and comprised only some part of the works held in the art museum (which, by the way, is considered to have the richest collection of Yehuda Pen's art heritage). The new catalogue includes 223 works of the artist: 183 from the holdings of the Vitebsk Art Museum, 37 from the National Art Museum, two from the National History Museum and one from the Maslennikov Mogilev Regional Art Museum,” Olga Akunevich said.

She explained that the idea to publish the catalogue was originally suggested by the Vitebsk Oblast Executive Committee. The significance of the name of the artist, particularly in the Year of Culture, made it a national project. The customer was the Information Ministry of Belarus. The catalogue was published in 1,000 copies. The first book was solemnly presented to Chairman of the Vitebsk Council of Deputies Vladimir Terentyev, one of the initiators of the project.

Speakers who attended the presentation event, called Yehuda Pen a prominent artist of “the Jewish Renaissance” in the art of the early 20th century. He is known as a mentor of Marc Chagall, but he had more than a thousand students. “I would say that it was from the height of his artistic genius that Yehuda Pen threw the first molecule in the Vitebsk art environment that gave birth to everything else, and that helped the dawn of art break over our city,” art critic Tatyana Kotovich said.