The Savitsky collection at the Nukus Museum has been steadily gaining
attention in the Western world over the last couple of years. It is said to be
one of the most significant collections of Russian avant-garde art outside of
Russia and is ‘second only to that at the Russian Museum’. Situated in
Karakalpakstan – part of Uzbekistan, a Central Asian republic of the former
Soviet Union – it attracts visitors from all over the world. However, various issues
have divided opinion as to the future of the museum, including the quantity and
quality of the works, their origins, the remoteness of the location, and the present
state of the collection.
Igor Vitalievich Savitsky
1915-1984
Karakalpak Museum of Arts, Nukus
Selected and introduced to the museum by Igor Savitsky between the late
1950s and his death in 1984, the collection consists of 90,000 items and
includes paintings, works on paper and sculptures, as well as examples of the applied
arts and antiquities. While the applied arts section represents Karakalpak
history, the fine arts section is mostly Russian. However, there is also a
large number of works created by Uzbek artists who received training from
Russian artists living in Central Asia during the early twentieth century.
The museum presents a very unusual slice of the cross-cultural history
of the former Soviet Union; from its inception, through the years of the toughest
repressions, and its later thaw and stagnation, culminating in perestroika. It
shows not only the artistic history of one place, but a cultural exchange
between Russia and Central Asia which was only possible within the political structure
of the Soviet Union. Here Moscow stood at the centre, Uzbekistan at the
periphery, and Nukus in so remote a position that even the steely grip of the
central powers could not reach it with its full strength.
Resting between the forbidden and the official, Nukus managed to satisfy
both those in power and those against it for decades. The key reason for this
success was the personal nature of the relationships that Savitsky developed
with the artists and the authorities. The current keeper of the collection and director
of the Museum since Savitsky’s death, Marinika Babanazarova, is following in
his footsteps with her diplomacy and her dedication.
In 2011 London was the location for two events associated with the Nukus
Museum. One was the UK premier of a documentary film and the other a book
launch. The film shown on the 27th of May was The Desert of Forbidden Art by Tchavdor Georgiev and Amanda Pope.
Organised by Samuel D. Omans, the screening was followed by a panel discussion between
Dr. Alisher Ilkamov (The Open Society Foundation/SOAS),
Professor Sarah Wilson (The Courtauld Institute of Art), and myself. Both admirers of the museum and those who were encountering this gem for
the first time watched the film, filling the room to capacity. The film tells
the story of Savitsky’s collection through interviews conducted with
descendants of the artists, the staff of the museum and former party officials.
The Desert of Forbidden Art centers on
the collection of the Russian and Uzbek avant-garde. Romantically dramatised,
the story of Satvitsky and current state of the museum are interlinked and
questions of maintenance and safeguarding are raised. According to the film the
current Uzbek government offers only reluctant support to this museum because although
the museum attracts international attention it does not constitute a collection
of Uzbek art. The museum and its treasures are shown to be in an alarming
condition with the only hope for their future preservation being the dedication
of the museum director and staff.
The director was
the central focus of the second event relating to the museum that took place in
London. On the 9th of November Pushkin House organised a book launch
of Marinika Babanazarova’s publication Igor
Savitsky: Artist, Collector, Museum Founder (Silk Road Publishing House,
2011), which is available in both Russian and English. Exploring the life of
this extraordinary man, the 72-page-book also includes a list of all the
artists, both Russian and Uzbek, represented in the collection, as well as
listing a number of works held for each and fourteen colour illustrations.
It is widely
agreed that the Nukus Museum possesses a significant art collection, yet only a
few publications exist in relation
to it. The two most notable catalogues were both published
outside of Uzbekistan. The first is Les
Survivants des Sables Rouges: Art russe du Musée de Noukous, Ouzbekistan, 1920-1940 (les editions L’Inventaire/Conseil
Regional Basse-Normandie, 1998). The second one is Ildar Galeev, ed., Венок Савицкому. Живопись, рисунок, фотографии, документы (Галеев Галлерея, Клуб Коллекционеров Москвы, 2011), which was published in conjunction with an exhibition at
the Galeev Gallery in Moscow.
These publications
are graced with detailed texts devoted to exploring Savitsky as a collector and
artists as the creators of the early twentieth-century avant-garde. Both are
lavishly illustrated, the former with photographs of works from the Nukus Museum
and the latter with examples of other works created by the same artists.
The works that comprise
the collection were saved from potential loss or destruction. This has put the
artists represented in a rather unusual position; on the one hand their art is
known and admired, yet on the other they have not gained the same fame and
recognition as some of their contemporaries whose works were either stored in
museums in the Russian centre, such as museums in Moscow and St Petersburg, or
taken abroad. Without a broad exposure culturally, dedicated exhibitions and
publications some of the names of the artists represented in the collection are
known by only a few experts on Russian and Central Asian art.
The collection
includes works by over one hundred artists, including Pavel Benkov, Nadezhda
Borovaia, Robert Falk, Nadezhda Kashina, Nikolai Karakhan, Elena Korovai,
Mikahil Kurzin, Ruvim Mazel, Alexander Nikolaev (Usto-Mumin), Lubov Popova,
Alexander Shevchenko, Ural Tansykbaev, Viktor Ufimcev and Alexander Volkov. Two
paintings by Alexander Volkov were successfully sold during the Russian art
week in London, one at Christie’s and another at MacDougall’s; the extent of
international recognition for Volkov’s works is just now starting to become
apparent.
Another form of
international recognition, support and dedication comes from the Friends of the
Nukus Museum, a group of individuals interested in keeping the collection
alive. Having existed informally since the 1990s and formally since 2001, it is
the main source of outside backing for the museum. Another support group is set
up on facebook under the name ‘The Savitsky collection (Nukus, Uzbekistan)’.
Nukus is located close
to the Aral Sea, the rapid shrinking of which has become a natural disaster of
global import. In order to avert an artistic disaster and the loss of a truly
significant cultural monument, the Nukus collection also needs to survive and
evolve.
Further information:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/48346084078/
Aliya
Abykayeva-Tiesenhausen is an art historian specializing in twentieth-century
and contemporary Central Asian art. In 2010 she completed her doctoral
dissertation ‘Socialist Realist Orientalism? Depictions of Soviet Central Asia,
1930s-1950s’ at the Courtauld Institute of Art.
