No. 2 (37) (2025), Art of the 20th – 21st centuries
No. 2 (37) (2025)

Collecting in Siberia: a historical perspective

Art of the 20th – 21st centuries
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.02.016
Published 2025-06-30
Vladimir F. Chirkov
Regional branch of the Urals, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Academy of Arts, Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation
eLibrary ID
chirkovart@mail.ru

Abstract

The article presents an analytical review of the history of collecting works of fine and applied art in Siberia. This review was undertaken to clarify the chronological framework of the process and to study the artistic life of the region from the 17th century to the present. It also examines the influence of historical and social aspects on the ideological, genre, stylistic, and figurative structure of fine art collections, as well as the conditions that shaped the peculiarities of Siberian artists' creativity. These issues are among the topical problems of art history, as they relate to both private collecting activity as a significant factor in the preservation of artistic values and cultural heritage of the Siberian region, and to the understanding of Siberian art and its formation and development. In addition to existing works on the history of collecting in the 18th to the first half of the 20th century, this analytical review introduces information about private collections from the end of the 20th to the first quarter of the 21st century. The type of collections in Siberia has a synchronous character, by the beginning of the 20th century, large private and public collections (such as the museums of VSOIRGO, ZSOIRGO, and Tomsk University) were known in Siberia. These collections played an outstanding role in the general enlightenment and professional education of Siberians, and in the 20th century, they served as the basis for the creation of state museums. At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, private collecting experienced a revival, with the bulk of these collections consisting of works by contemporary Siberian artists. The comparative-historical method was used to identify common and special aspects in the historical development of collecting in major cultural centres of Siberia in different periods. Elements of typological and artistic-stylistic analysis were also utilized to identify types of private collections and determine their place in the artistic life of the region.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.46748/ARTEURAS.2025.02.016

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