THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PRESERVATION FUNCTION OF THE KYIV ART GALLERY“ MUSEUM IN THE FIELD OF SOCIAL MARKETING OF FINE ARTS (1941–1945)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to provide a comprehensive art-historical and sociocultural analysis of evacuation and restitution processes at the National Museum “Kyiv Art Gallery” (hereinafter – NM KAG) during 1941–1945 as an integrated project for implementing the museum’s preservation function. Research methodology. The study is based on a multidisciplinary approach combining art-historical analysis and archival studies, including the examination of primary sources, particularly the archives of NM KAG. It also employs a social marketing systems method – a strategic, long-term approach that directs social marketing activities toward societal responsibility, positioning the national fine arts museum as an integral system. Additionally, a sociological method is applied to analyze museum activities through the prism of social communications and value-based marketing, along with a comparative method and others. In the course of the comprehensive analysis, the following results were obtained: the museum staff was conceptualized as a collective rescuer of the national artistic heritage, functioning as a strategic actor in preserving artistic symbols of the national identity of the Ukrainian people. It was established that the institution’s transition from an exhibition function to a rescue function constituted a fundamental shift in the social cognition of the professional group, within which the priority was to preserve the works by D. Levitsky, V. Borovikovsky, and M. Vrubel, artists whose creative development took place in Ukraine. The article examines the determination of the mechanisms of social marketing and economics through the substantiation of the evacuation to Ufa as an instrument of social marketing in the field of fine arts.