News and Events
2011
Museum building issue progresses
In December 2011, The Prime-Minister of Uzbekistan Sh.Mirziyoev issued a resolution to start a construction of the 2nd block of premises for the Savitsky Art Museum in Nukus, intended for 2012-2013. The development of the project was commissioned to the “Uzshaharsozlik” project Institute. An intercession about allocation of 16 billion soums for the construction and 450 million soums for project – research works has been submitted to the government.
Minister Kuziev visits the Museum
On 17 November 2011, Uzbekistan’s a Minister of Culture and Sports, Academician T.K.Kuziev visited the museum. Accompanied by a Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Karakalpakstan B.Yangibaev and other governmental officers, the Minister was deeply interested in the museum’s activities and put forward a number of proposals concerning the prospects of its steady development.
Development of tourism in Karakalpakstan
On 20 October, the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan approved the “Programme of Measures aimed at development of tourism and increase of tourist services export potential in the Republic of Karakalpakstan during 2011-2012”.
The 5th section of the programme concerns the museum, stating that the programme should: “to widen advertising of the Savitsky Museum in Nukus through diplomatic offices in Uzbekistan to attract the foreign tourists on a larger scale”.
Besides that, the Council of Ministers of Karakalpakstan on November 8 adopted its Decision 247 On “Increase of tourist services export in Karakalpakstan during 2012-2015” which has a similar section concerning the Savitsky State Museum of Art.
Ministry of Culture provides equipment to the Museum
March - Taking into account an international importance of the Savitsky Museum of Arts collection (Republic of Karakalpakstan) as well as its role in the tourism development in the North of our country, the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Uzbekistan has passed an unprecedented resolution granting the museum eight different types of equipment including exhibitional and storage equipment, safes and air conditioners, amounting to 148 million Uzbek soums. This is a considerable amount of support for the Museum to help preserve the Museum's priceless collection as well as to increase its offer to tourists.
Congratulations!
February 2011 The Savitsky Collection has been recognized the best and most visited museum in Uzbekistan. The Ministry of Culture and Sports of Uzbekistan and "UzbekMuzey" foundation awarded the Diploma with the title "The museum which drew the visitors' attention." The Ministry of Culture recognised the Savitsky Collection due to its wide-ranging field of activities in 2010.
Re-exposition of the museum rooms
January 2011 A re-exposition of rooms has been carried out in the Main Museum building by adding artworks from the former premises subject to reconstruction (or/destruction). All delivered artworks are being placed and mounted in the museum rooms, as well as in the reserve rooms. Dismounting and mounting paintings and sculptures have been made en masse. The Museum walls are now packed with these paintings. Museum Council members feel that the new exposition features with new play of colours, and visitors will be able to see three times more artworks than earlier. Although the museum staff has been forced to give up some principles of museum exhibiting, the newly-created exhibition is an extraordinary event that has been very positively viewed by visitors. Thus, despite losing a large exhibition hall, the museum is ready for the new tourist season and can show its visitors never-before-seen paintings by Volkov, Tansykbaev and Karakhan. After completion of the re-expositional work, a new exhibition devoted to the artists who were victims of Stalinist repressions of the 1930s will be opened.
Smithsonian Institution rolls into town
From 26 January-2 February 2011, a series of seminars entitled Management and Information Technology in Museums took place around Uzbekistan. The seminar, sponsored by the US Embassy in Tashkent, the Uzbek Ministry of Culture and Sport, was led by the Washington, DC-based Smithsonian Institution's Carol Neves, Willam Bradford Smith and Paul Taylor.
2010
Presentation of Film Pearl of Uzbekistan
The Savitsky Collection had the pleasure to show the film Pearl of Uzbekistan on 4 August, the 95th anniversary of Igor Savitsky's birth, at the Museum. The film, produced by the Zhaxon agency and commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be shown in Uzbekistan's 44 embassies around the world. The film details Savitsky's life, as well as his efforts in collecting the world's second largest Avant Garde art collection as well as the largest folk art collection in Central Asia. The film's current two versions, in Russian and in English, will be joined by an Uzbek version, so that Uzbekistan's citizens can also enjoy it.
Touch-Screen - a first in Uzbekistan
The Savitsky Collection became the first museum in Uzbekistan to tell the Collection's story through the use of a touch-screen. The Ministry of Culture and Sport provided the touch-screen to the Museum, which allows visitors to read about the Museum's history, its Collection, Uzbekistan's artists and its folk art, with the touch of a finger.
Museum employees receive training on databases
From 23-26 August, UNESCO provided museum employees with training entitled Practical Uses of Museolog. The Savitsky Collection's employees were joined by other Uzbek museums, the Minstry of Culture and Sport, as well as the Foundation UzbekMuseum, to examine the applicability of the computer programme Museolog in the country. Museolog has already been applied in the Kazakhstani State Museum in Almaty. Mrs. Marinika Babanazarova said of the training, "This is very important not only for our museum, but for other museums in the country, to learn about and apply the latest advancements in technology to help us better operate our museum."
Museum Director participates in International Congress of Museum Directors in St. Petersburg
Mrs. Babanazarova joined colleagues from 14 other Post-Soviet countries to discuss issues of common concern on 9-10 September. Upon returning, Mrs. Babanazarova said, "It was very good to sit in one room and discuss issues of common concern. We realised that we all have amazing collections that could make more of an impact in the arts world, and so I hope that we are able to cooperate further in promoting our own museums, as well as working together to have a greater impact in Europe, North America and Asia." The Congress was organised by the Hemritage Museum, the Union of Museums in Russia, the Likhachev Foundation, the International Fund for Humanitarian Partnership and the Committee for Culture of St. Petersburg.
2009
25th Anniversary of Savitsky’s death
July 27, 2009 A number of special events and activities are under consideration to mark the 25th anniversary of Savitsky’s death in 2009, including a possible exhibition of his own paintings, and the publication of a biography.
Savitsky Poster and Calendar of Events for 2009
Download a copy of the Calendar of Events for 2009. (1mb pdf)
Arkadiy Stavrovskiy Exhibition
The Savitsky Museum is currently holding an exhibition dedicated to the Russian painter Arkadiy Stavrovskiy (1903-1980).
The exhibition, in the year of what would have been Stavrovskiy's 105th birthday, demonstrates the rich and unique world of this creative artist, whose work was essentially forgotten for 40 years before Igor Savitsky started collecting him en masse.
Stavrovskiy belongs to the post Avant-garde generation; pupils of Avant-garde leaders such as Malevitch, Kandinsky, Lentulov, Popova, Chagall and Filonov (Stavrovskiy himself was a pupil of Lentulov). Some of these artists such as Deineka and Pimenov were already known in the 1930s. However, the majority of these cool generation artists, such as Rublev, Levina-Rozengoltz, Safronova, Sokolov and Stavrovskiy, were only discovered in the 1960s and 1970s, by people like Savitsky.
The Nukus Museum is nearly the sole heir of Stavrovskiy, housing more than 2000 works, including 1700 graphics. The exhibition itself presents 25 paintings and 38 drawings which demonstrate the diversity of his work.
Indeed, Stavrovskiy's work is varied, experimenting with realism, cubism, primitivism and futurism. He was constantly in search of his own language that would allow him to depict his ideas and feelings. Stavrovsky fought in World War II, which deeply affected him and stayed with him for the rest of his life, explaining the tragedy and anxiety depicted in much of his work.
Stavrovskiy's favourite themes were darkness and night. In some paintings, subjects remain hidden behind doors and small windows or the scene takes place in partially visible courtyards (notably in the courtyards and dance under the streetlamps series). He also painted clowns as many XXth century masters, returning to this theme throughout his life. These works represent clowns realistically, often exposing a strange sense of premonition.
2008
Museum expert assists Collection
Eric Aubert, a Tashkent-based museum expert with UNESCO spent one month at the museum this summer. A French national and a graduate of the Sorbonne in Art History and Museum Management, Mr. Aubert worked with the museum's staff on developing the offerings for visitors as well as museography issues. His work will form the basis of a museum assessment report for UNESCO.
Europe through the eyes of Uzbeks – photo exhibit
For two weeks in June, the Museum hosted an exhibition of photographs entitled “Europe through the eyes of Uzbeks”, part of a larger traveling exhibition around Uzbekistan arranged with the support of the German Embassy in Tashkent.
Redko and Nikritin
From end-February through June, the Museum held an exhibition of paintings from the Savitsky Collection by Kliment Redko (1897-1956) and Solomon Nikritin (1898-1965). Redko, who spent several years in Paris in the 1920s, is well represented in the Collection with over 50 paintings. One of his best known being perhaps his Motherhood oil on canvas (1928) on display in the Museum’s permanent exhibition. Nikritin, a graduate of the Kiev School of Art and one of the founders of the Jewish Cultural League in 1919, is similarly well represented in Nukus by over 170 works
International Conference on the Aral Sea draws visitors to the Museum
March 2008: A number of distinguished national and international persons visited the Museum on the sides of an International Conference on the Aral Sea, including First Deputy Prime Minister Rustam Azimov; the new French Ambassador to Uzbekistan; UNESCO’s new Regional Representative, Ms. Anna Paolini, and a delegation of German financial institutions.
2007
Educational Resources
2007: The British Council supported the development and implementation of a "Museum on Wheels" programme which organizes mobile exhibitions for schools in Karakalpakstan whose children are unable to visit Nukus. The programme reached approximately 30,000 people over the three year period, 2003-05. The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) financed a scaled-down version of the same programme during 2007-08. During 2010-2011, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation supported "Museum on Wheels" with 2,000 students hearing lectures and 6,000 children seeing the exhibition.
