Hand-printed textiles (vybiika)

Woodblock-printed cloth (vybiika). Poltava region, possibly 18th c.

Another traditional method for decorating cloth is the printing of patterns using dyes applied to carved wooden boards, known in Ukrainian as vybiika. Traditionally, both the woodblocks and the printing were done by hand. We have an extensive collection of such hand-printed woodblock-decorated textiles that likely date from the 18th century.

Below is a photograph from the Konstantyn Moshchenko archival collection depicting a vybiika workshop established by the Poltava Zemstvo (local government) in the 1910s as part of an effort to popularize and preserve traditional Ukrainian folk arts.