Tver Regional Art Gallery

In 1866, in Tver, on the initiative of the governor P.R. Bagration , the local historian N.I. Rubtsov, the Decembrist poet F.N. Glinka , the mayor A.F. Golovinsky , one of the first public "museums" was created in the Russian province, conceived as a historical, archaeological and industrial. But already in the first exposition, opened on August 9, 1866 in the presence of Tsesarevich Alexander Alexandrovich and Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich , there were works of art - portraits of Admiral Kornilov , engraver Utkin , inventor of the astronomical clock Voloskov , merchant Savin. These four works, then included in the “memorials” section, became the basis of the future art collection.

Since 1896 (with a break in 1936–1961), the museum is located in the building of the Tver Imperial Palace, an architectural monument of the 18th – 19th centuries. (architects P.R. Nikitin , M.F. Kazakov , K.I. Rossi , A.I. Rezanov ).

In pre-revolutionary years, the museum was replenished with art monuments rather randomly and randomly. Dominated by objects of decorative and applied and church art. However, a number of acquisitions of that time to this day occupy a prominent place in the collection: two painted wooden reliefs of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries. "Peasant Wedding" (received from a private collection in 1883), an icon of the XVII century. “Mikhail and Arseny of Tver with the Tver Kremlin and Transfiguration” (a gift from P. I. Shchukin in 1893), paintings by P. S. Drozhdin , G. V. Soroki and A. V. Tyranov , “Shop signs” are unique examples of the genre paintings of the XVIII century (transferred to the Tver craft council in 1904).

Since 1917, the museum began to receive objects from many nationalized estates of the Tver province , which constituted the real core of the collection of classical art. Large family portrait collections were located on the estates of Znamenskoye-Rayok , Talozhnia and Pryamukhino, Novotorzhsky Uyezd , Panafidino Staritsky Uyezd , Sakharovo, Tver Uyezd and many others. Interesting thematic collections have developed in individual estates (for example, the estate of Prince A. A. Shirinsky-Shikhmatov Ostrov in Vyshnevolotsky Uyezd has a collection of paintings and graphic works devoted to the theme of hunting). The most significant collection in terms of quantity and quality was on the estate of the princes Kurakin Volosovo (Stepanovskoe) in Zubtsovsky district . Only the collection of paintings totaled more than 500 works and included the works of old European masters: French, Dutch, Italian, English; a gallery of portraits of kings and emperors from the dynasty of the Romanov dynasty ; a gallery of portraits of numerous representatives of the Kurakin family, their relatives, friends, acquaintances, including brushes of such famous artists as I. Ya. Vishnyakov , F. S. Rokotov , D. G. Levitsky , V. L. Borovikovsky ; numerous landscapes depicting princely estates in various provinces of Russia; paintings and portraits painted by Prince A. B. Kurakin, 2nd - a talented amateur artist. No less interesting were the collections of Russian and Western European graphic art and engravings, arts and crafts, and sculpture. The halls of the Volosovo Palace were decorated with highly artistic furniture of Russian and French work, unique lighting fixtures from Elizabethan, Catherine, and Pavlovian times.

Two private collections had a noticeable impact on the character of the collection: M. M. Gracheva and A. P. Katkova, donated in 1922 (several dozen works of painting and graphic art by Russian masters, mainly of the 19th century, including I. K. Aivazovsky , A.V. Tyranov, M.N. Vorobyov , the Chernetsov brothers , G.I.Semiradsky), and the singer of the Russian private opera G.P. Malikov, who collected works by Russian artists of the late XIX - early XX centuries. The latter moved to the gallery gradually: in the 1930-1950s. the paintings were purchased from the singer himself, later from his heirs. Among the things included in it are such masterpieces as I.I. Levitan's “Wooded Beach” and “Bathhouse in the Park” by S. Yu. Zhukovsky , four paintings by V.I. Surikov (out of five available in the gallery), works by E. Makovsky , I. E. Repin , M. V. Nesterov , I. I. Mashkov , N. P. Krymov , I. E. Grabar and others (more than 40 exhibits in total). Almost all of them are an integral part of the permanent exhibition, represent the collection of galleries at major Russian and foreign exhibitions, are published in albums, catalogs, calendars and postcards.

In 1929, the collection was transformed into the Art Gallery of the Museum of Local Lore, in 1937 it received the status of an independent museum called the Kalinin Regional Art Gallery. From this moment began the sequential acquisition of works by artists of the twentieth century (primarily representatives of official Soviet art ). Directly from the workshops, the works of A. A. Deineka , A. M. Gerasimov , B. V. Johanson and other famous artists were acquired.

During the Great Patriotic War , during the occupation of the city , the Imperial Palace was significantly destroyed. The art collections of the gallery, housed in the Ascension Church building, were damaged and partly plundered. Soon after the liberation of the city, the work on preparing exhibitions, studying and completing the meeting was resumed. In 1942, several sketches by V. D. Polenov and the landscape of A. V. Ginet “Moonlit Night” were acquired, in 1943 - early 1945 the works of I. E. Repin, V. M. Vasnetsov , P. P. Trubetskoy , K. F. Bogaevsky , B. D. Grigoriev , S. Yu. Sudeikin and many other masters. It is striking and even fantastic that the acquisition of works by Russian emigrant artists (Grigoriev, Sudeikin), declared official Soviet art criticism as "representatives of reactionary bourgeois art."

In the postwar years, until the beginning of Perestroika , the acquisition of the gallery was very orderly and measured. From the Committee on Arts at the Council of Ministers of the USSR , from the Ministry of Culture, from private collections of Kalinin, Moscow and Leningrad, regularly received works of Russian and Western European classical art, works of famous Soviet artists. At this stage, increased attention is paid to the work of artists associated with Tver land, and not only “local” ones. Thanks to this, a collection of works by artists of the Academic Dacha , which reopened in 1948, was formed; The “Domotkanovskoye” ( Valentin Serov and his entourage at the Domotkanovo estate) and the “Udomelskoye” (artists who worked at the cottage “The Seagull” by V.K. Bialynitsky-Birul ) were significantly replenished. Expeditionary activity in the 1960-1970s allowed to significantly expand the department of ancient Russian art.

Since 1990, the gallery has a modern name. In the last decade of the twentieth century. due to the emergency condition of the palace, the exposure was constantly decreasing, however, the collection continued to grow. Despite the difficulties, it was during these years that the funds were replenished with two works of the “Domotkanovsky” period of V. Serov, a whole collection of paintings and graphic works by Yu. A. Vasnetsov ; the picture of G.V. Soroka, "View of the Ostrovka estate from the Big Island", which was considered missing since 1917, was sought and acquired. The works donated to the gallery during this period are estimated in thousands. All this made it possible not only to significantly replenish the existing sections of the collection, but also to begin to form new ones, for example, the section of “contemporary” art ( V. Nasedkin , V. Lucca , T. Novikov , O. and A. Florensky , etc.).

The art collection of the gallery has about 32,000 exhibits: collections of cult ("Old Russian") art of the 14th – 20th centuries, Russian painting, graphics and sculptures of the 18th – 20th centuries, Western European art of the 15th – 20th centuries, and decorative and applied art of Russia and Europe , East.

In the section of ancient Russian art there are icons of the Tver school of the XIV-XVI centuries, unique Tver murals of the XV-XVI centuries, the Royal gates and wooden sculpture, copper plastic, works by S. Ushakov and other famous icon painters.

In the collection of Russian art of the XVIII — XX centuries. - one of the best portrait collections in Russia, allegorical and religious painting of the 18th century, works by A. Venetsianov and artists of his school ( G. Soroka , N. Krylov , A. Tyranov and others), landscape painting of the turn of the 19th – 20th centuries. ( K. Korovin , A. Rylov , A. Stepanov , A. Plastov , in particular, in the museum’s collection is his famous painting “The First Snow” ), the works of V. A. Serov and artists from his entourage on the estate of Domotkanovo ( M. A Vrubel , N. Simonovich-Efimova , I. Efimov , V. Derviz , V. Favorsky ), easel and monumental sculpture of the XX century. ( N. Andreev , V. Mukhina , S. Konenkov , B. Korolev , I. Shadr , I. Frikh-Khar , A. Zelensky , E. Unknown , O. Komov , etc.).

The collection of Western European art includes paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints from Italian, French, German, Dutch, Flemish and other schools of the 16th – 20th centuries, including L. Crown, A. Magnasco , S. de Bray, N Muyart, A. Kuapel, F. Battagalli, F. de Trois, C.-J. Verne, A. Govarts.

The arts and crafts section is diverse: porcelain and earthenware from Europe, the East, and Russia, including the country's most complete collection (about 7000 units) of the Auerbach-Kuznetsov factory product collection (now Konakovsky faience factory ); Russian and European art furniture; art glass, metal products, fabrics, etc.

• Memorial and Art Museum of Valentin Serov in Domotkanovo

• Official site