Tver Regional Art Gallery (TOKG)

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Tver is a city and the administrative center of the Tver region in Russia. The historical heritage of Tver, which has preserved numerous works of art, is the Tver Regional Art Gallery (TOKG).

One of the notable buildings of the city is the Travel Palace. The head building of the Tver Regional Art Gallery (address: Tver, Sovetskaya st. 3) is a former imperial palace built for Empress Mother Catherine II. The people of Tver call the palace Putev, because it stood on the road between the two capitals - Moscow and St. Petersburg.

In addition to the head building, TOKG has branches: the Domotkanovo Museum, where the works of V. Serov are stored, a museum from the village of Emmaus and the Chaika dacha awaiting visitors in the Udomelsky district.

The collection of the Tver Regional Picture Gallery is of great interest.

How the gallery fund was formed

Tverichans can be proud of the collection of the regional art gallery, which contains more than 36,000 art monuments: the best examples of painting, woodcarving and other works by masters of bygone schools and eras. Here is the real history of Tver!

The history of the formation of the gallery begins withmid-nineteenth century. In 1866, at the request of the respected people of the city P. R. Bagration, N. I. Rubtsov, F. N. Glinka and, of course, the famous and respected head A. F. Golovinsky, a “museum” was created for visiting. It was the first museum in Tver, the first signs of provincial museums in the "backwoods" of the Russian Empire. Its first visitors could see only 4 works: portraits of Admiral Kornilov, engraver Utkin, inventor Voloskov, eminent merchant Savin - they formed the basis of the exposition.

In addition to ancient frescoes, icons and portraits, two original wooden reliefs are still considered valuable and unique - a rarity for modern museums. The painted works were created at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. The name of the reliefs "Peasant Wedding" speaks for itself.

The 17th century icon "Mikhail and Arseniy of Tver with the Tver Kremlin" is of interest. The icon was donated to the gallery by P. I. Shchukin, a well-known collector in the capitals, in 1893.

Paintings are valuable, mostly landscapes and portraits by P. S. Drozhdin, G. V. Soroka, A. V. Tyranov and others.

Tver Regional Art Gallery in the post-October period

Acquisition of collections of paintings and household items from nationalized estates to the museum fund began in 1917. The exposition was updated not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively - the Tver province was famous for its numerous estates. The turning point for the country in 1917 became a landmark year for the gallery - it changed the face of its exhibition halls forever.

The best pictures weredelivered from the Volosovo (Stepanovskoye) estate in the Zubtsovsky district, which previously belonged to the Kurakin family. The collection contained more than five hundred paintings, among which were wonderful original canvases by European masters: portraits of members of the Romanov royal family, portraits of representatives of the Kurakin family, their relatives, acquaintances and friends of the house, made by very famous artists. Today, the names of the masters of the characteristic portrait sound proudly: I. Ya. Vishnyakov and F. S. Rokotov, D. G. Levitsky and V. L. Borovikovsky.

Icons and frescoes in the gallery fund

The most ancient examples of art kept in the TOKG fund are icons and frescoes. The Tver school is considered one of the best local schools of ancient Russian painting of the 13th-15th centuries; its heritage is collected in the Tretyakov Gallery and other major museums. In terms of severity of style, the Tver school gravitates toward the Balkan school, retaining, however, its own stylistic finds.

Separately in the hall are icons by S. Ushakov, whose works of art deserve special attention.

Simon Ushakov

The famous icon painter of the 17th century Simon Fedorovich Ushakov (1626-1686), one of the main painters of the tsar, who was paid to paint, lived and painted icons in Tver. Ushakov occupied a very prestigious position: he headed the workshop for painting icons of the Armory. He was an outstanding innovative artist, who tried to depict on the images not the canonical flat, but volumetrically molded faces with chiaroscuro. Ushakov gave characteristic features to each face, tried to depict movement, that is, he tried to bring into the iconography of Russia something that was not yet in it.was.

He constantly invented new compositions for icons, did not ignore the achievements of Western icon painters, paid attention to living nature. The works of S. Ushakov are very diverse: making wall paintings, painting icons and parsuns, painting banners, drawing geographical maps, plans, etc.

The gallery rightfully owns his icons of Saints Prince Vladimir (father of Saints Boris and Gleb), as well as St. Arkady Novotorsky and Moses Ugrin. The latter was performed together with a student in 1677, when Ushakov was full of energy and opportunities to create real masterpieces. The icon has become a masterpiece: the figures on it are bright and beautiful, solemnly majestic and voluminous, the colors are bright and harmonious.

Valentin Serov

Works of the famous artist Valentin Serov (paintings) can also be seen in the gallery. Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov (1865–1911) was not always a realist. Attention is worthy of his highly artistic combination of classical academicism, avant-garde and contemporary Western European trends (impressionism, for example).

This makes the artist's paintings inimitable. He became one of the pioneers of Art Nouveau in Russian art of the 19th-20th centuries, but the light of realism shines in his best works.

For the most part, V. Serov's paintings from the TOCG are drawings, but there are also paintings. It should be noted "Portrait of Olga Fedorovna Trubnikova", which can be attributed to the early, family works of the artist, although then Olga Fedorovna was not yet hiswife.

Valentin Serov married in 1889. The family was large and friendly. Perhaps that is why all family and children's portraits are marked by tender joy, the finest characteristic nuances, and love for models.

Serov was, without a doubt, one of the best portrait painters, life-affirming and strong. His portraits were distinguished by the ability to fully and deeply feel the individuality of a person. You immediately notice this when looking at the “Portrait of Olga Fyodorovna Trubnikova.”

The artist owes the appearance of a number of works to the Domotkanovo estate, which belonged to a friend, classmate and relative - Vladimir Derviz. Valentin Alexandrovich successfully worked in the estate he loved. The local grass and trees, the air and the good friendly atmosphere set him up for a whole series of paintings that are considered the best. These are the famous "Girl, illuminated by the sun" (1888), "Overgrown pond. Domotkanovo" (1888), "October. Domotkanovo (1895) and a number of "peasant" canvases.

Gallery now

The gallery is now full of works not only by eminent authors, but also by contemporaries. The gallery building is currently being restored and is waiting for those who will understand the value and feel the uniqueness of the collection, who will be able to look at the works exhibited here not as paintings, but as works of art that should be protected and enjoyed.