Traces of Time   Prints from the 16th to 19th Century from the Museum of Western and Eastern Art Odesa   13.08. – 26.10.2025

Traces of Time: Prints from the 16th to 19th Century from the Museum of Western and Eastern Art Odesa

This exhibition presents a selection of major works from the print collection of the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art, whose extensive holdings are directly threatened by Russia’s war of aggression in the Ukraine. The museum for Western and Eastern art in Odesa was founded 1924 and houses a versatile collection of historically significant cultural and artistic works. Major focus is on paintings, printed works, sculptures and applied arts from the Renaissance into the twentieth century. Due to its holdings, the museum is one of the most important museum institutions in Ukraine and the collection is part of the country’s cultural identity.

The Kunsthalle Bremen is supporting the efforts of the Odesa Museum to transfer its valuable works of art to secure locations and make them accessible to a wider public. Due to its own history, the Kunsthalle is aware of the challenges inherent in protecting and preventing the theft of works of art during wartime. This remains a painful chapter in the history of its own collection.
Furthermore, the cooperation strengthens the close cultural relationship between Ukraine and Bremen which also exists within the scope of the 2023 town twinning between the two cities. This latest sister city partnership arose from a demonstration of solidarity following the attack by Russia on Ukraine in February 2022 and various previously existing cultural, civic societal, economic and religious contacts.

Forty European printed works have been selected to be displayed in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Kunsthalle Bremen. These include prints by famous etchers, wood cutters and copperplate engravers such as Rembrandt van Rijn, Gérard Edelinck, Anthonis van Dyck, Jacques Callot, Cornelis Cort, Johann Elias Ridinger, Adriaen van Ostade and Niccoló Boldrini.

Nicolò Boldrini nach Tizian, Landscape with Cow Melker, ca. 1525

Woodcut, Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Odesa

 

Nicolò Boldrini nach Tizian, Landscape with Cow Melker, ca. 1525 (Detail)

Woodcut, Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Odesa

 

Nicolò Boldrini nach Tizian, Landscape with Cow Melker, ca. 1525 (Detail)

Woodcut, Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Odesa

 

Nicolò Boldrini nach Tizian, Landscape with Cow Melker, ca. 1525 (Detail)

Woodcut, Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Odesa

Paul César Helleu, Portrait Anna Goratsievna Ashkenazi, 18./19. century

Drypoint, Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Odesa

 

Francesco Bartolozzi nach Guercino, Two Girls with Birdcage, 1764

Etching, Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Odesa

 

Marino Bovi after Giovanni Battista Cipriani, after Francesco Bartolozzi, Putti with the Head of Medusa, 1795

Copper engraving and mezzotint, Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Odesa

 

William Wynne Ryland nach François Boucher, The Sleeping Beauty, 18. Jh.

Etching, Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Odesa

 

Francesco Bartolozzi nach Guercino, Sitting male nude, 1794

Etching, Museum of Western and Eastern Art, Odesa

 

Johan Barthold Jongkind, Harbour scene, 1868

Etching, Museum of Western an Eastern Art, Odesa

 

 

Paintings from Odesa in Berlin and Heidelberg
An exhibition of paintings from the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odesa was shown at the Berlin Gemäldegalerie from 24 January to 22 June 2025 (‘From Odesa to Berlin. European Painting of the 16th to 19th Century’) and will then be on display at the Kurpfälzisches Museum Heidelberg from 19 October 2025 to 22 March 2026 (‘Masterpieces from Odesa. European Painting of the 16th to 19th Century’).

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