TUMEN REGIONAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

TYUMEN REGIONAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS MAY BE COMPARATIVELY YOUNG – IT HAS YET TO MARK ITS 50TH ANNIVERSARY – BUT OFFERS VISITORS A VERSATILE AND EXCITING COLLECTION ENCOMPASSING CLASSICAL RUSSIAN AND WESTERN EUROPEAN ART, AS WELL AS WORKS BY LOCAL PAINTERS OF THE 19TH–20TH CENTURIES; TOBOLSK BONE-CARVERS AND FAMOUS TYUMEN CARPETS; THREEDIMENSIONAL CARVING WITH VEGETATION ORNAMENTS WHICH WAS SO WIDELY USED IN WOODEN BUILDINGS IN TYUMEN; AND, FINALLY, THE ART OF THE PEOPLES OF THE OB RIVER REGION IN THE FAR NORTH. ONE OF ITS MOST INTERESTING PARTS IS THE SIBERIAN ICONS SECTION.

G.G. CHERNETSOV. Ferdinand Bridge in Vienna. 1840
Oil on metall. 57.5 by 84 cm

The history of the museum started with the directive of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR in 1956 to establish a picture gallery in Tyumen. An old merchant mansion in the city's central street housed the exhibition, and in 1957 the museum received its first visitors. In the beginning the collection had only 120 exhibits, most of which (70) were pictures from the Tyumen and Tobolsk ethnographical museums.

Tyumen contributed canvases by F.S. Rokotov, F.A. Bruni, I.I. Levitan and "Caesar's Denarius" by an unknown painter of the early 18th century from A. Matveyev's school, which was very unusual for its time, originally received from the State Hermitage.

Tobolsk donated local "Parsuna" (a style very close to the traditional iconography) portraits of Metropolitan Ioann Maximovich and the Pope. At the time Tobolsk was the most important town of Siberia, but given the great distance between this unofficial centre of Siberia and Moscow and St. Petersburg, the development of art lagged behind by at least half a century. Works by V.A. Tropinin, I.K. Aivazovsky and A.V. Vasnetsov were also transferred from the Tobolsk Ethnographical Museum.

By 1970 the merchant's house had become too small for the collection, and it was relocated into a more spacious building, then in 1989 renamed as the Tyumen Regional Museum of Fine Arts.

Major acquisitions were made in the 1960-70s when the museum bought works by K.A. Korovin, V.D. Polenov, S.A. Vinogradov, P.V. Kuznetsov, B.M. Kustodiev, and other artists from private collections in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Today there are nearly 12,000 exhibits in the collection, centred around Russian painters of the 18th - early 20th century.

The 18th century is represented by V.L. Borovikovsky, even S.S. Shchukin (whose works are very rarely found in regional collections) and slightly over 100 other portraits. 18th century artists who earned great popularity among Russian art-loving clients include the Italian Pietro Antonio Rotari, and the Austrian Johann-Baptist I Lampi, the Elder, who represent "Rossika" (this unusual term refers to pictures by Western European artists who worked in Russia). A.G. Venetsianov, V.A. Tropinin, S.K. Zaryanko and some other unknown Russian portrait painters of the second half of the 18th century are also in the collection. From the 19th - early 20th century, portraits by I.E. Repin, A.Ya. Golovin, B.M. Kustodiyev, R.R. Falk and M.F. Shemyakin are of particular interest.

I.Ye. REPIN. Portrait of M.K. Oliv. 1906
Oil on canvas. 90 by 72 cm

The wonderful landscape collection is as full of diverse masters as the museum's portrait gallery, boasting outstanding artists of the late 18th - early 19th centuries, including the Swedish artist Benjamin Patersson who worked in Russia, Silvester F. Shchedrin, M.N. Vorobyov, and the Chernyetsov brothers. The section dedicated to landscape painting of the second half of the 19th century includes lyrical artists such as A.K. Savrasov and F.A. Vasilyev, and epic canvases by I.I. Shishkin, I.K. Aivazovsky and A.P. Bogolyubov. Genre paintings that were popular in 1850-80s still enjoy public interest, with the Tyumen collection featuring the Wanderers (peredvizhniki) artists G.G. Myasoyedov, N.V. Nevrev, and V.Ye. Makovsky.

The art of the 20th century is represented by a tiny number of exclusive paintings by artists from the main artistic associations, like "Mir Iskusstva" ("World of Art"), "Golubaya Roza" ("Blue Rose") and the Union of Russian Artists: A.N. Benois, K.A. Korovin, P.V. Kuznetsov, S.A. Vinogradov, S.Yu. Zhukovsky, B.I. Anisfeld, A.Ye. Arkhipov, and B.M. Kustodiev's "A Bathing Woman" and "Portrait of Doctor S.Ya. Lyubimov with the Dog", in which the painter continues to explore his favourite topics.

B.M. KUSTODIEV. Portrait of Doctor S.Ya. Lyubimov with the Dog. 1905
Oil on canvas. 160 by 65.5 cm

The Tyumen Regional Museum of Fine Arts gathered its rich collection due to the work of many interested individuals. Yevgeny Konstantinovich Krollau (born 1924) made a contribution to the collection, providing scientific descriptions for a significant part of Russian painting of the 18th - early 20th centuries: he was also responsible for the first catalogue of the Museum. Another acclaimed museum expert, the author of numerous publications and curator of the collection of folk art of the Tyumen Region, Neli Khazimukhamedovna Shaykhtdinova (1942-2001) played a major role in creating the "image" of the museum. Today the work of the Tyumen Regional Museum of Fine Arts is concentrated on collecting, studying and exhibiting the invaluable tresures housed in the Museum.