Our Publications

New Tri-Lingual Kobzar of Taras Shevchenko Available

A major Shevchenko book was published by the Taras Shevchenko Museum in Toronto. It celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of the great poet Taras Shevchenko on March 9, 2014. The project, started in 2010, resulted in a book with a selection of fifty poems in Ukrainian, English and French.

Canada has created more Shevchenkiana than any other English speaking country. Translators include C.H. Andrusyshen & W. Kirkconnell, A.J. Hunter, John Weir, Honore Ewach, Florence Randal Livesay, and Mary Skrypnyk, Also the scholarly works on Shevchenko by Prof. George Luckyj of the University of Toronto are a valuable resource in English. The book KOBZAR (Minstrel in Ukrainian), is a hard bound deluxe edition with gold stamping. Among the poems included are Dumy Moyi, Hamaliya, Dumka, Subotiv and Ivan Pidkova. A facsimile of Zapovit (Testimony), a great Shevchenko poem translated into almost 150 languages of the world, is included.

PICTURESQUE UKRAINE

The Taras Shevchenko Museum opens its 66th season with PICTURESQUE UKRAINE, an exhibit of contemporary fine art, generously donated to us by more than 40 artists from almost every region of Ukraine. These 49 works, depicting the beauty, nature, people, culture and customs of their native land, are rendered with love and reverence for its ancestral traditions and the glorious history of Ukraine and its heroes. All the pieces in this collection of oils, acrylics, watercolours, pastels, graphics, and collages were created to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Taras Shevchenko’s birth. They were previously displayed, in 2014, at the National Shevchenko Museum in Kyiv, Ukraine, as part of a multi-stage event called 200 Ukrainian Artists on the 200th Anniversary of Taras Shevchenko. It stands to reason that a special place in the collection belongs to this great poet and artist, for the life and works of this genius of world renown have, for generations, inspired and continue to inspire countless works of art on diverse themes in a wide range of styles and genres.

It is no accident that this exhibit is called PICTURESQUE UKRAINE. In 1844, Taras Shevchenko created a series of engravings which he intended to publish as a periodical under the name Picturesque Ukraine (Zhyvopysna Ukraina). It was to be devoted to the history, people, customs, folklore, nature, and historical monuments of Ukraine. However, financial difficulties and his arrest made it impossible for him to realize his lofty plan. The one album of six engravings that was published received wide acclaim in the press.

The Taras Shevchenko Museum is honoured to receive this rich and generous gift. These works of fine art are a significant and important addition to the Museum’s collections and will serve to popularize Ukrainian culture not only with Canadians but also with people the world over.

SHEVCHENKO MUSEUM Past Present Future

SHEVCHENKO MUSEUM Past Present Future is a 32-page commemorative booklet published in October 2019 to celebrate the reopening of the Shevchenko Museum in its new contemporary premises at 1604 Bloor Street West, Toronto. Widely illustrated, it features material on Taras Shevchenko’s life and work; the history of the Shevchenko Museum; its collections, programs and activities; as well as the history of early Ukrainian immigration to Canada and the role of Taras Shevchenko’s poetry and philosophy in the establishment of early organized cultural and educational life among Ukrainian pioneer settlers in Canada.