Musing At Masterpieces At The Nukus Museum Of Art, Part Two

More rooms, more paintings collected by Igor Savitsky that deserve, demand a gaze. Take a good look.

The Brown Girl by A Poret.

Working hard at the pier. BA Golopolosov's painting, Cleaning the Deck, 1931. Being moody in red. Portrait of Sculptor Fuad Salaev by F Agaev.

Of course, more cotton picking. A painting by AN Volkov from 1945. The deceptive glory. Poetry or propaganda?

A visit to old Bukhara in a painting titled Kalyan Minaret from 1929. By PP Benkov. A humble Uzbek meal, by S Kolibanov, titled Before The Lunch, 1965. Nice touch with iconic ikat fabric as the picnic blanket. Plenty of symbols included, like the non bread, tea and a cotton stem and bloom, similar to what is frequently found in religious Renaissance paintings.

Sad protest. Aral Sea Pieta by J Lepesov. The Pieta theme is the depiction of the recently dead Jesus, being cradled by his mother, the Virgin Mary. It's a go-to image for absolute sadness and defeat. This painting is using the theme to depict a protest of the Soviets for ruining the Aral Sea by draining it for cotton production. Sad, indeed.

Musing At Masterpieces At The Nukus Museum Of Art, Part One

Time to take a good look at some of the painting highlights collected by Igor Savitsky. The man had an eye. Actually, two eyes. Good ones.

Cotton Picking by AA Shpadi. Picking cotton is a major activity in Uzbekistan. It's a complicated history, from Soviet agriculture planning, patriotic bonding over harvesting to child labor problems and the environmental disaster of draining the Aral sea. A bucolic scene with undertones.

A painting by RR Falk, titled At The Square In Samarkand, 1943. The Silk Road, an enduring subject. How about some light refreshment? By The Sea Mari Luiza by K Redko.

Enchanting. Scary. A NI Konisheva painting, titled Portrait of Irina Plamenevskaya.

From 1971, Hunter by NM Nedbaylo. Henri Rousseau gives a nod. Crimson Autumn, 1931, by U Tansiqboyev. Now, Henri Matisse and his fellow fauves give a nod.

Workers of the world unite! Or, at least suffer in the background of the fat capitalists. From 1931 by MI Kurzin, titled, of course, Capital. 

Seeing The Savitsky Museum In Nukus

Igor Savitsky, born 1915, was a Ukrainian archeologist who ended up on a dig in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan in 1950. That area is way out west, near the town of Nukus. He stuck around, started collecting/hoarding traditional crafts, clothing, jewelry. Savitsky moved on to collecting Russian avant-garde, "degenerative" art and works from many local, Central Asian artists. He died in 1984 and it wasn't until the years of perestroika, Uzbek independence in 1991, and the establishment of the Nukus Museum of Art in 2003 that the full extent of the amazing collection became known.

Today, Savitsky's collection is considered one of the most important Russian modern, avant-garde collections in the world. Right there, way out in western Uzbekistan.

A little intro and a big, hero pic of Savitsky, the swashbuckling archeologist.

Most galleries are pure paintings, save for some personal, period objects. Good for context. Make sure to record your visit.

Paintings dominate the exhibits, save for a few traditional textiles, objects.

Amazing chapans, local robes.

Let's get to those paintings. Of course, the glory of manual labor is a major theme. Make sure your picnic lunch next to the wheat field you're harvesting is well stocked.  Here's a painting by U Saparov, titled, Rest.