Some Aspects of Hnat Koltsuniak’s Biography (1888—1937): the History of Two Inscriptions

Abstract

This article determines the novelty of the research of Hnat Koltsuniak’s biography – the repressed figure of Ukrainian science and culture of Galicia of the first third of the 20th century. The research emphasizes the areas of scientific knowledge and arts where his activity was fundamental: ethnic, ethnographic, and art studies. The purpose of the proposed article is to continue the reconstruction of Hnat Koltsuniak’s life on the cumulative basis of fragmented historiography, new archival information, and visual sources; study of the role which his artistic and scientific work played in the cultural and historical discourses of the first third of the 20th century and those of independent Ukraine. The visual sources of the research studied “de visu” (works of art, museum documentation) have been summarized in the topical media archives. The historiography and sources of the article have been systematized, cited, and commented on. The contribution of Kyiv and Kolomyia museum professionals, who consulted the proposed research, has been determined. The main part of the article is presented as the reconstruction of the Galician, military (World War I, the period of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917–1921), and Kyiv periods of Hnat Koltsuniak’s life. Some hypotheses about his exile in 1933–1937 have been made. The analysis of the book covers and inscriptions (a type of bookplates) created by Hnat Koltsuniak has been carried out from the point of view of book studies. The article identifies the criteria which make the copies with his publication and inscriptions stored in the librarian fund of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine prospective for inclusion in the State Register of National Cultural Heritage. The contents and fate of the book collection of the Cabinet of Anthropology and Ethnology named after Fedir Vovk, established in honor of the founder of Ukrainian studies and destroyed by repressions, is additionally highlighted. Such research methods and their challenges are defined: lack of archival information, in particular that of the Soviet punitive and repressive organs; insufficient amount of Hnat Koltsuniak’s works of art in museum collections. The prospects of this research on the basis of new archival information are determined.