Art Collecting in Russia During the Second Half of the 20th Century: The Wellsprings of Tradition, and the Most Important Names and Collecting Trends
Lecture from the series “Art Collecting in the 20th Century”
Lecturer Ksenija Remezova
Art collecting in Russia began in the 17th and 18th centuries, but its rapid development did not occur until the late 19th and and early 20th centuries, when art was rapidly changing and developing. Today, art collecting has become a topical and important subject for research and the focus of many exhibitions around the world. In Estonia, this exhibition of Yakov Rubinstein’s collection and the exhibition activities of the Mikkel Museum generally, bear witness to this. The first lecture of the “Art Collecting in the 20th Century” series will focus on art collecting traditions in 20th-century Russia, with the main emphasis on the post-World War II period, when art collecting became a second profession for many scientists, doctors and academics. Thanks to the outstanding collections resulting from their complicated and perilous work, the art heritage of the 20th century became increasingly complete and diverse, and the works of art have found places in the permanent collections of major museums, as well as in many exhibitions.
Ksenija Remezova is an art scholar, researcher of the Russian avant-garde and exhibition curator. She is also actively involved in teaching art history to children of all ages. She has written a playful children’s book called “The Avant-Garde Train Full Steam Ahead!” (2022). She graduated with a degree in art history from the European University at St Petersburg. She has created children’s programmes for several large museums in St Petersburg, and has worked as a curator in the largest private gallery in St Petersburg, where she organised several exhibitions of private collections. She is currently living and working in Tallinn.