Kazan art exhibitions of the 19th – 20th centuries as sources of formation of the city’s museum collections

Abstract

The creation of an art school in 1895 under the patronage of the Academy of Arts is an important milestone in the life of the Kazan Province center. As a result, Kazan combines various vectors of cultural activities: getting an art education, organizing exhibitions, and uniting the local creative intelligentsia. For the first time, rare but already regular exhibitions are held in the city. Initially, these were exhibitions of the academic school masters of the capital. Later, united by the school, Kazan artists felt up to the task of organizing their own exhibitions. The result of these events is the formation of the school’s museum, as well as the development of the city’s private collections. The City Museum also acquired works of art for its own funds. Artist A. Kandaurov laid the foundation of the school museum and presented two of his paintings in 1896. Afterwards it became a tradition – artists donated their works to the school museum. As a result, in 1902, the school petitioned the Academy “to create a museum and a gallery in the new school building using the stock of the Academy of Arts”. Many of the works purchased at such exhibitions were included in the collection of the Republic of Tatarstan State Museum of Fine Arts. The organization of art exhibitions made Kazan a part of the all-Russian cultural space of those years.

Keywords

• kazan art school
• city museum
• exhibitions
• collections