Novye Issledovaniâ Tuvy (Jun 2019)
The problems of preserving objects and exhibition work at the Aldan-Maadyr National Museum of the Republic of Tuva: the case of 19th century Russian painting
Abstract
For the first time, the article examines some 19th century Russian paintings preserved at the Aldan-Maadyr National Museum of the Republic of Tuva, such as those by I. Aivazovsky, I. Shishkin, V. Vereshchagin. Also studied are the issues of storage and permanent exposition of these objects. The paintings were received as a gift from the State Hermitage and the State Russian Museum in what was then Leningrad in 1930 – a gift of friendship to the recently (1929) set-up State Museum of the People’s Republic of Tuva, a state allied to the USSR. The article provides a full gift list, which included 55 paintings by both famous and obscure authors from Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Russia in 17th-19th centuries. Of these, 44 have survived. We here publish descriptions and photocopies of three of them – I.K. Aivazovsky’s “A seascape” (1847), I.I. Shishkin’s unfinished “The Forest” (1880s, more precise date unknown), and V.V. Vereshchagin’s study “The Night” (1860s) – a unique painting for this famous battlе painter. As of now, the National Museum of the Republic of Tuva has in its collections over 900 paintings. The problems of storing and exhibiting these paintings, however, persist. In the short term, the museum will add a new hall to host a permanent exposition of European and Russian paintings.
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