Copy of Symon Petliura’s Death Mask

The object is a sculptural cast of the face of Symon Petliura — a Ukrainian statesman, military and political figure, Chairman of the Directorate of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and Chief Ataman of the UPR Army. It is a copy made in the 1990s from the original death mask of 1926.

The death mask reproduces Petliura’s facial features. The original was made shortly after his death by taking a plaster impression of his face and constitutes a documentary record of the appearance of a historical figure. Petliura was assassinated in Paris on 25 May 1926 and was buried at Montparnasse Cemetery on 30 May of the same year.

The mask shows a calm facial expression, with the eyes closed and the features relaxed. Individual characteristics of the face are clearly rendered, including the shape of the forehead, nose, cheekbones, lips, and chin. The high degree of fidelity of the cast gives the object not only artistic but also significant historical and memorial value.

Death masks were traditionally used to preserve an accurate likeness of prominent individuals and served as models for portraits, busts, and monuments. The death mask of Symon Petliura belongs to a group of memorial objects preserving the visual memory of a prominent figure associated with the history of the Ukrainian People’s Republic and the Ukrainian national movement of the early 20th century.

Provenance: Transferred to the museum by the Institute of National Memory in 1994.