In 2022, the Khmelnytskyi Regional Art Museum launched a new art project titled “The Print Room,” which aimed to introduce visitors to one of the oldest forms of art, whose name derives from the Greek word “grafo,” meaning “to write, scratch, or draw.” Graphics works with strokes and lines, black and white, light and shadow. It was with lines and strokes that the history of visual art began.

In terms of process, techniques, and execution technologies, graphics is the most conservative form of visual art.

In the age of digital technology, graphic art restores a sense of the physical presence of the hand, time, and material. It was the evolution and transformation of this art form that inspired us to launch the “The Print Room” project, which began with the exhibition “Kinship” (on view at the KhRAM until February 10, 2022), which showcased the work of the Andriichuk family—Mykhailo and Taras—well-known in the Podillia art scene.

The next exhibition in this project was “Forward into the Past. Heorhii Vereiskyi. Prints from the 1890s–1930s. From the Khmelnytskyi Regional Art Museum Collection,” which opened on February 17, 2022. It ran for only a week: the full-scale invasion forced the Khmelnytsky Regional Art Museum, like all other museums in Ukraine, to suspend its exhibition activities. The works from our collection were secured, and the museum restructured its operations.

That is why we decided to revive the exhibition, give it a second life, and, accordingly, offer art lovers the opportunity to thoroughly view the works of the outstanding 20th-century graphic artist Heorhii Vereiskyi; we are now presenting the exhibition “Forward into the Past – 2. Heorhii Vereiskyi. Graphics from the 1890s–1930s. From the KhRAM Collection.” Given that among the 4,000 graphic works in our museum’s collection, 1,718 are graphic sheets by Georgy Vereisky, the exhibition aims to showcase as fully as possible the variety of techniques the master employed. This is quite a complex task, as there is no technique the artist did not try his hand at. He worked with pen, graphite, Italian, and lithographic pencils. He added ink washes to his pen drawings, used colored pencils, and employed mixed media techniques combining watercolor with graphite or ink with colored pencils. Later, he mastered various printmaking techniques, in which he achieved great heights.

The exhibition presents works by Heorhii Vereiskyi from the 1890s to the 1930s. The early 20th century was characterized by a turbulent surge and development of various styles, experimentation, and creative freedom spurred by socio-political changes. Consequently, the graphic art of this period is exceptionally rich in stylistic and visual diversity.

In an era of visual noise, Heorhii Vereyskyi’s graphic art restores a rare quality—slow contemplation. Its power lies not in effect, but in concentration. That is precisely why the images remain in the memory: as a quiet, almost imperceptible state of inner balance, which has become a true luxury today.