Ivan Honchar. Collection

He collected a large collection of ethnographic materials, works of folk art. He created the first private museum in the USSR, which he arranged in his own house, built on the land allocated by the Union of Artists of the USSR - not far from the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra.

He collected exhibits for the museum during improvised expeditions to Ukraine. The collection includes 7,000 items: icons, folk clothing, wooden sculptures, musical instruments, toys, metal products. A separate array of the collection consists of 20,000 archival photographs from different regions of Ukraine.

The museum was opened for public viewing in 1959. It soon became one of the most visited places in Kyiv. The Sixties gathered here, foreign guests came here. Even state tourist organizations secretly brought foreigners to him. With the popularity of Gonchar as a collector, the pressure on him began to grow. Petro Honchar recalls that in the late 1960s there were the first threats - along with verbal attacks, they resorted to concrete actions: once the door was set on fire, then the workshop in the yard burned down. Ivan Honchar's ascetic activity openly irritated the then authorities. The collection of unique ethnographic exhibits collected by him was not inferior in value to the collections of a number of leading state museums. Petro Shelest was concerned about the fact that "a private collection of Ukrainian folk art in the house of sculptor I. Honchar is regularly visited by representatives of various regions of the republic, including nationalist elements who use their stay there to ideologically influence visitors." In 1972, I. Honchar was expelled from the CPSU with a simultaneous demand to transfer the collection to state museums. This event was a big blow for the artist. Losing a party ticket meant losing your job, because then everything was done through government orders. "He could have been imprisoned, but there were no good reasons for that: he did not fight with the authorities, he correctly quoted Lenin's views on the development of the nation," Petro Honchar recalls. - Of course, he was provoked: people were sent who asked to sell antiquities for currency. And if he sold, it would be an excuse - he trades for currency. In addition, he was so influential in his enlightenment that he was known abroad. ”

In August 1973, the film "Sonata about the artist" was created, dedicated to the famous Ukrainian sculptor and museologist I. Honchar (director V. Shkurin).

Based on his collection, I. Honchar composed the album "Ukraine and Ukrainians" - he illustrated a certain area with photographs of typical types of locals, sketches of churches and dwellings, samples of embroidery, weaving, pottery. All this was accompanied by signatures made in calligraphic handwriting. From this work 18 volumes of unique data were formed.

He died of leukemia at a hospital in Feofania. He was buried in Kyiv at the Baykovo Cemetery, next to the graves of Ivan Svitlychny and Ivan Mykolaychuk. In the same year (1993) the Ivan Honchar Home Museum became state-owned.