According to the president of the Association of Jewellers of Ukraine Serhii Tsiupko, “Ukrainians should not blame the laws, it is the legal culture which is to blame”.
– Mr.Serhii, do You consider philanthropy, patronage and sponsorship to be similar or completely different concept?
– I think there is no need to differentiate them. It is the content, not the concept what really matters. If a person does something good, he or she doesn’t care how he is called: a patron, a sponsor, a philanthropist… If you’re good, you will be good under any circumstances. My main principle is kindness will save the world, all the rest is nothing but vanity and nonsense.
– Do You remember an old song “Being good is not an easy job”? How easy or difficult is it with the current Ukrainian legislation?
– There is no doubt that the law on charity should be updated. But it must be not done superficially, but profoundly, taking all the prospects into consideration. The majority of businessmen provide social assistance from their own profit – it cannot be done otherwise. But one cannot blame the law. If it is valid, everybody must comply with its rules and regulations. Not everybody is satisfied with it, what we have to do in this case is to take the initiative, make suggestions and forward amendments. Those who complain of the law and say that it prevents them from helping children and renovating temples, just “wash their hands out”, they are preoccupied not with the charity but only with their own benefit. I’m far from believing that if, say, today, a new law is accepted; everybody will immediately become a philanthropist. Philanthropy is not an occupation; it is a state of mind plus the appropriate training.
For example, on New Year’s Eve Kyiv Jewellery Factory received an order for the manufacturing of 12 icon lamps for the temple in Bethlehem. I looked at the project and thought: “Why cannot we just give these lamps to the temple as a gift? This is a Holy place, Christmas is coming and we are going to take this money! It’s not what God wants us to do.” What had been said was done. Currently we are working for the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. We are making 24 silver lamps. The work is very difficult and delicate. You can even call it a restoration. We work by the ancient sketches. Sacred lamps had been lost during the wars, various social turmoils. In fact, we have to create a real jewellery masterpiece, which is very, very expensive. It costs some hundred thousand dollars. We appealed to different patrons and sponsors! A lot of them were eager to help. Now we have to decide whose aid we accept and whose cannot be accepted. Holly work should be done with clean hands, with clean thoughts, but not for forgiveness of one’s sins.
– The church is definitely very selective while seeking for support.
– I cannot deny this. We have just finished a very interesting project. We have been working at a meter and a half long frame for the icon in Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra for two years. Precious metals and gems were given by the Church, and we did all the work. Our best experts have worked all these years, received their salaries. When we finished the work, we refused from the fee. Very soon after this I was invited to the monastery and awarded the Order of Volodymyr of the first degree. I was greatly pleased, although I could never even dream about something like this.
– Mr. Serhii, everybody knows that You are the founder of the biggest private art museum in Ukraine. Tell us about it please.
– With great pleasure. The idea of the museum started to shape about twenty years ago. In late 1980s my company was building office facilities. We wanted to make them by European standards. And, of course, they had to be decorated with nice pictures. That is how I got acquainted with some artists. I started collecting and studying paintings. The first picture, then second, then tenth, then twentieth appeared … Gradually I reached the level of systematic collector. About this time the idea of Ukrainian Art Museum came to me. We only collect paintings of Ukrainian artists. They are classified by schools: Odessa, Crimea, Zakarpattia, Kyiv, Lviv … When we had collected over a thousand pictures, we decided to organize a museum of contemporary Ukrainian art. To give everybody a chance to see them.
– How many canvases do You have in the funds for Your museum?
– More than 4.5 thousand. For those who do not know, our museum (on 14 Bratska St. – K.K.) is free. Exhibitions are changed every month. We do not sell anything. Our funds include unique paintings, some sculptures and works of decorative art. Each school is represented separately – from a founder to his followers. In January 2008, everybody is invited to see the Lviv school.
– What works are You especially proud of?
– We have works by Ayvazovskyi, Bernardskyi, Stolyarenko, Bortnikov, Tzvetkova, Lomykina, Ardeli, Zverynskyi. We have recently purchased the work of our classic – Malevich, who was born and raised in Kyiv, and died in the United States at the auction in Mac Douglas…
The museum’s mission is not only to collect and exhibit our artistic heritage, but also to return our art works to Ukraine.
– Finding them is probably not an easy task…
– Most of the pictures of our compatriots are sold at auctions. Unknown, at least currently unknown, contemporary artists are not exhibited there. The name of the artist is the price of the auction. We are searching through the Internet. Have correspondence with our friends from Germany and France. If we have a chance, we buy. But this is not always possible. The works of Ukrainian artists are in demand. Especially those of the “Sixties’ Generation” (Shestydesyatnyky). This is such an unpredictable layer; the Soviet Union pretended that they do not exist, and here they are, appeared out of the blue. Those who believed in the “Khrushchev thaw” began to exhibit their works. Then the famous “bulldozer exhibition” occurred … Recently some undeservedly forgotten participants of those distant events were rediscovered. The fate of Stepan Titka resembles a plot of some novel. In 1949 he was sent to Siberia. He managed to survive and even got an education. He accumulated the spirit of implacable opposition to power, which he expressed in his paintings. After the “Khrushchev thaw” he became a modest village teacher in Lviv outskirts. Our experts found him accidentally and we are proud to represent him to Ukraine. His solo exhibition will take place this spring, so to speak as a remembrance of the thaw that ended in the winter time.
– When You bring pictures to Ukraine, do You have any problems at customs?
– One should know the laws and be aware of their implementation. The problems at customs can occur only when you fill the declaration form incorrectly. The same with pictures import.
Ones I was asked what I would do if I were offered to work on the law on charity. I am not a lawyer. But if we need a good law that really works, all we have to do is to take one of some developed European country and adjust to our conditions. But in our situation, say, a very complex tax system, if entrepreneurs have learned “to twist” something, they will adapt any new law to their necessities. Unfortunately, public consciousness is not a problem here. In Western Europe people are not more publically conscious, but more educated. They are used to obeying the law. Ukrainians should not blame our laws, it is our legal culture that is to blame.
Everything begins with culture. New York Museum of Modern Art, for example, has more than 18 thousand pictures and statues. And I am going to surprise you when I say that the majority of these works are presents. The Rothschild family donated the Expressionists. The sculptures of our Archipenko are from the Morgans. Surrealists are from DuPonts . Gifts, gifts, gifts… At least 75% are the gifts. Baron Rothschild had been collecting art works all his life and then decided to bequest it not to his heirs, but to the community in which he lived.
– It is well known facts that You cannot born as a philanthropist. What motivated You for charity?
– I’m just a citizen of my country. I love and respect Ukraine. I want to see it strong and developed. I am really eager to help my country at some stage of its development and formation.
For example, we have 130 000 children with disabilities. It is impossible to help all of them. But one cannot ignore the problem as well. We have collected some money for treatment of one kid from Zaporozhe. He is just three years old, but needs the transplantation of marrow operation. We also transferred 50 thousand hryvnas. I am sure that strength is in unity.
Here is another example. There is a theatre in the capital, called “Bravo”. Nowadays, art cannot survive without patrons. Therefore we have been helping them for 15 years. We have sponsored performances, bought the facilities, made renovation.
One village school in my native Sumshchyna badly needed reconstruction. An ancient two-storey building: Victorian front yard, landscapes resemble the pictures of Levitan! Not a single window had been changed in this school since 1929! I studied there, my mother worked there as a teacher. The renovation cost UAH 400 thousand. If I can afford it, how can I refuse to help?
Recently, the structural branch of German-Polish-Ukrainian company in Ukraine founded a Canter for Protection of Homeless Children “Our Children” in Dniprovskyi district of Kyiv. Some state and private organizations from Germany, Poland and Ukraine sponsored this important social project. By the way, even the Queen of Sweden Silvia patrons this project. From the very beginning of the active phase of this project, I was honoured to make my contribution, which was the development and coordination of project paper work and construction. This and other sponsors’ aid made the completion of the first stage of the centre possible. We should always remember: children are our future, and if we do not take care of it today, tomorrow may not come.
“Narodniy Deputat” magazine, January 2008
Interviewed by Konstantin Koval