All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art

Building

The museum is located in the palace complex of the XVIII century, built by decree of the statesman Ivan Osterman in 1782-1787 in the style of Russian classicism ^[2] . From 1834 to 1918, the Moscow Theological Seminary was located on the premises of the palace. After the revolution of 1917, the buildings were nationalized , and the main building and adjoining wings were used for the assembly of provincial councils . After World War II , the palace complex housed the working premises of the Presidium of the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR ^{[3] [4]} .

Foundation and operation of the museum

In 1979, the construction of the government complex on Krasnopresnenskaya embankment was completed , where the Presidium of the Supreme Council and the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR moved. In the vacated rooms in the house of Count Osterman, it was decided to create a Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art. Within a short period of time, the internal premises were rebuilt for placement in the building of storerooms and museum collections, organized the reception and storage of documents, developed a system of internal documentation. One of the first workers was the military builder Alexander Mitrofanov, who was engaged in the repair and reconstruction of buildings. The first director was appointed glass artist and former administrative worker of the Union of Artists Antonina Stepanova. Researchers were also hired: Z. A. Malaev, L. L. Pirogov, I. M. Denisov, O. M. Polyashova, S. S. Morozov. The designer of the exposition was the artist G. G. Kurochkin ^{[2] [5]} . The opening of the first exposition took place in 1981, six months after its foundation ^[6] . Since its inception, the museum has a scientific and methodological center and restoration laboratories ^{[7] [4]} .

From 1996 to 2015, the Museum of Contemporary History of Russia was located on the ground floor of the building. Due to the area occupied by him, the Museum of Decorative and Applied Arts was deprived of most of the exhibition space. On the square freed up in 2016, the expanded exhibition “Decorative and Applied Art of the 18th — 19th Centuries” was opened, including exhibits from storage areas: lighting fixtures made of glass and crystal, porcelain and bronze interior items from the late 18th – 19th centuries, and samples of Russian palace furniture of the 18th – 18th centuries. XIX centuries , among which the “ Minin and Pozharsky ” mantelpiece, made by the Parisian bronze - piercer Pierre-Philippe Tomir and reproducing the monument of Ivan Martos , standing on Red Square ^{[8] [9]} , is of particular interest ^. .

In 1999, the Museum included the Museum of Folk Art named after Sergey Morozov , which fell into decay in the mid-1990s due to the loss of state funding ^[2] .

Since the 2000s, the museum has repeatedly faced an eviction attempt. In 2005, on the initiative of political scientist Pavel Borodin , the proposal to place the union state of Russia and Belarus in the building was considered, but thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture, the museum managed to keep the building behind itself ^[2] . Statesman German Gref also made suggestions for placement in the main building of the Public Chamber ^[10] .

In October 2017, the exhibition “Russian Style. From historicism to modernism ”, covering the period from the end of the XIX to the beginning of the XX century ^[11] .

Formation

As of 2018, the museum has more than 120 thousand exhibits. The basis of the collection was items from the Museum of Handicrafts, the Museum of Folk Art named after Sergey Morozov, as well as materials from the Research Institute of the Art Industry and the Union of Artists of the USSR ^[12] . The museum also includes works donated by the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR, the State Historical Museum , which allocated more than a thousand objects of the 17th- 19th centuries, as well as the Kuskovo Museum , which donated the work of Soviet artists on porcelain. Money for further purchases of exhibits was allocated from the state budget. The museum received part of the collection from scientific expeditions of workers to the Arkhangelsk , Vologda , Nizhny Novgorod , Magadan regions, as well as to the Far East and Yakutia . The exposition is built on a thematic principle: in each hall objects from a certain material are presented ^{[13] [4]} .

Collection

Stone and metal products

The museum collection includes more than 13 thousand items made of stone and artistic metal. Applied art began to develop on the territory of Russia in the XI century , when the masters of Kiev , Novgorod , Chernigov , Smolensk , Vladimir and Ryazan began to decorate weapons and products from gold and silver with enamels and precious stones. Since the 15th century , metal production has increased dramatically - stone and metal foundations began to be used in most products. The museum exposition includes Svets , chests with a metal shackle of the 17th century, brothers , chalices , dishes with hammered images of the royal family , works of art metal from the Urals , from Moscow, Moscow Region , Nizhny Novgorod and other cities. The hall also exhibited works of the Soviet and post-Soviet periods ^[13] .

Wood products

Since the XI century, wood carving has become one of the main decorations of houses, public buildings, as well as large and river vessels. The museum presents elements of peasant decor: cornices, friezes , columns with capitals in an original interpretation, as well as window and ceiling frames . Fragments of house paintings fell into the museum from the collection of L. A. Kozhevnikova and I. P. Rabotnova, who formed a collection of objects during expeditions in the 1950s and 1960s. This room also houses toys and household utensils made in the style of wooden life. In the windows you can see a collection of tools made in the style of Khokhloma , as well as wood carvings made by masters of Yakutia, Tobolsk , Chukotka , and from the XVIII century - and Moscow, Vologda , Veliky Ustyug , Novgorod and Solvychegodsk ^[13] . In 2014, the museum opened a new permanent exhibition of lacquer miniatures ^[14] .

Ceramic Products

The collection of ceramics is one of the largest in the museum and has more than 12 thousand items. All types of ceramic products are presented in the halls, from pottery to porcelain. In a separate window, objects of domestic majolica are stored, including from the city of Gzhel , as well as items from the Imperial Porcelain Factory of the 19th century and the Gardner Factory in Verbilki . Among the valuable exhibits in the museum are the sets of the royal family “Kabinetsky”, “Georgievsky”, “Andreevsky” and “Vladimirsky”, sculptures by Jean Dominic Raschett , objects from the manufactories of the Terekhovs and Poskochin, ceramics from the workshops of Abramtsevo and Talashkino , the sculpture of Nikolai Andreev “Tula peasant woman ”, Performed in 1910 in the workshop of the Stroganov School ^[13] , as well as ceramic works of such masters as Isidor Frikh-Khar , Ilya Slonim , Ivan Efimov , Vladimir Favorsky , Isabella Agayan , Sergey Orlov ^{[15] [16]} .

Glassware

The history of glass manufacturing in Russia dates back to the 10th – 11th centuries, and since the 17th century glassmaking has moved to the industrial stage of development. In the XIX and XX centuries, production became one of the leading industries in Russia - already in 1913 the number of plants reached three hundred. The museum’s collection contains a rare collection of imperial cups with engraved names of family members, vases, crystal objects of the 19th century with national images and scenes from the victory over Napoleon , works of the 1860-1890s in the Russian style , as well as modern art glass ^[13] .

Fabrics

The museum presents various weaving techniques popular in the 15th – 21st centuries: traditional costumes, embroidery, lace-making, carpet-weaving, knitting, and author's textiles. Most of the items were obtained from private collections of applied art researcher Nikolai Sobolev and painting expert N.V. Rudnev. With the transfer of the collection of the Museum of Folk Art in 1999, peasant embroidery of the 18th century appeared on display. In a separate hall, folk costumes of the Russian provinces and modern federations are presented ^{[13] [17]} .

Author's drawings and sketches

As a research center, the museum pays attention to the story of how to make decorative and applied art. So, the exposition includes sketches for porcelain and porcelain plastic of the Leningrad Porcelain Factory, Dmitrov Porcelain Factory, Volkhov , Dulev and Konakov manufactories. The works of leading artists: V. Vorobyevsky, I. Raznich, V. Gorodetsky, a collection of sketches by S. Milyutin and sketches for glass forms by Boris Smirnov are presented in a separate window ^[13] .

• All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art. - Moscow: Buck House, 2006. - S. 1-180. - 180 p.
• Gulyaev V.A. Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR. All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art, scientific concept of the exposition. Thematic structure of the exposition (at existing sites) .. - Moscow: Project, 1984.
• Dvorakovsky V. B. House of Count Osterman (From the history of the building of the All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art) // Monuments of Culture. New discoveries. - Moscow: Nauka, 1998 .-- S. 547–558 .
• Kostoeva V. A. Good Lac. - Moscow: The Art Newspaper Russia, 2014. - No. 6 . - S. 34-40 .
• Romanenko A.I. All-Russian Museum of Decorative, Applied and Folk Art. - Moscow: Visual Arts, 1987. - 16 p.

• Museum official site