An exposition “The images of the Belarusian print publications of the 19th–21st centuries” runs within the framework of the international exhibition “Francysk Skaryna and his epoch”.
Three hundred publications from the collections of the National Library of Belarus represent the images of three centuries of the Belarusian print. All the publications collected in the exposition are valuable. First, they are originals. Secondly, they are "living" specimens, which for a certain period of time had been actively used, and still are used by readers of the library.
The 19th century is represented by best preserved publications reflecting the subject matter, geopolitical conditions and repertoire of the Belarusian print of the time.
The exposition of the 19th century begins with publications printed in Latin script, mostly in Polish, as well as books written in the Belarusian language of that time. The first section comprises the works of public figures and researchers in the field of science and culture: the brothers Tyshkevich, T. Narbut, A. Kirkor, V. Syrakomlya and others, as well as the lifetime editions of the classics of Belarusian literature A. Mickiewicz, J. Barshchevsky, V. Dunin-Martsinkevich. As a rule, they wrote in Polish, but in most of their works they reflected the life and history of our country, acting as sincere patriots of Belarus.
When analyzing Cyrillic printed books of the 19th century, which are culturally and historically connected with Belarus, certain regularity can be traced: among them ethnographic descriptions, editions of folklore records, studies of monuments of ancient history and literature prevail. This is a series of fundamental works on the history, ethnography, folklore, language and literature of Belarus, including the books of A. Sapunov, N. Nikiforovsky, M. Dovnar-Zapolsky; the linguistic studies of Ivan Nosovich and Evfimiy Karsky and others.
The early 20th century is characterized by rapid development of the Belarusian book-printing, the centers of which were Petersburg, Vilnius, Minsk, Vitebsk, Grodno and Mogilev. In 1905, the Russian authorities abolished the ban on the Belarusian print, and as a result the Belarusian book "went to the people". The legal newspapers, magazines, primers, textbooks, publications on local lore and the arts in the Belarusian language appeared.
The 1920s and 1930s are represented by interesting examples of book graphics. The best graphic artists worked at the BSSR State Publishing House: P. Gutkovsky, G. Zmudinsky, M. Filippovich, V. Volkov, A. Tychina, M. Ende, M. Malevich. Also the new illustrators appeared: O. Litke, G. Izmailov, M. Gusev, M. Sevruk.
The publications appeared during the Great Patriotic War are valuable historical sources. They were created by Belarusian writers, partisans, members of underground organizations. Printed in evacuation, they were a real weapon in the fight against the invaders.
The book-printing of the second half of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century is represented by the publications winners of the Francysk Skaryna Diploma, the highest award of Belarus for outstanding achievements in book design and print. The award was established in 1967 in connection with the 450th anniversary of the Belarusian book-printing and is awarded annually at the national competition "The Art of the Book".
The exposition The images of the Belarusian print publications of the 19th–21st centuries runs from 15 September to 31 December in the exhibition hall (room 104), as part of the international exhibition “Francysk Skaryna and his epoch”.
Contact: (+375 17) 293 28 86.
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