On November 4, 2023, the Uglich State Historical, Architectural, and Art Museum hosted a presentation of the catalog “Russian Icons from the Mid-17th to the Early 20th Century. The Oleg Kushnirskiy Collection” published by Russian Icon Collection. It was the third presentation of the book held in significant Russian culture and history centers, including the presentation at the Museum of Fine Arts in Veliky Novgorod and the book launch event at the Museum of Russian Icons in Moscow.
“Russian Icons from the Mid-17th to the Early 20th Century. The Oleg Kushnirskiy Collection” is a catalog of Russian icons from the private collection of Oleg Kushnirskiy. After dedicating decades to building his collection in the United States, this year, Oleg Kushnirskiy presented the fruits of his labor to the public. The book has already been added to the collections of many reputable Russian cultural and educational institutions and is available for purchase across Russia and beyond.
The people who were directly involved in the creation of the Russian icon catalog gave their speeches. The son of Oleg Kushnirskiy and the director of the Russian Icon Collection project, Ilya Kushnirskiy, shared with the audience the bits of his personal story with his father’s collection. The Russian icon collector and friend of Oleg Kushnirskiy, Sergey Khodorkovskiy, also spoke at the event. The experts who authored some of the scientific articles featured in the catalog – the scientific editor of the catalog Anna Ivannikova and the Russian-Israeli cultural studies scholar Alek D. Epstein, Ph.D. – contributed the video recordings of their talks. The speech of the editor of Alek D. Epstein’s books, Alexander Tar, highlighted the cultural significance and high quality of the Russian icon catalog.
The book presentation saw the attendance of an impressive number of locals and representatives of the cultural sphere in Uglich, such as the director of the Uglich Art School and the director of the city’s library. The director of the Uglich Museum, Natalya Chvanova, was also among the speakers at the event.
The Uglich Museum is located in an ancient historical and cultural center of Russia. The institution is famous for its large collection of religious art created with the use of egg-based tempera paint, a material dating back as far as Ancient Egypt. The current museum collection contains around 30,000 works of art, some of which are over six centuries old. Most of the icons presented in the collection belong to the Moscow school of icon painting and date back to the 16th and 17th centuries. Apart from religious images, the Uglich Museum boasts a collection of historical and contemporary fine art, wooden sculptures, numismatics, weaponry, rare book editions, textiles, and other antiquities and artifacts.
About Russian Icon Collection
Founded by Oleg Kushnirskiy, Russian Icon Collection is one of the leading online galleries of antique Russian icons. It represents the most accurate compilation of all the knowledge and expertise gained from many years of collecting and selling rare and famous religious icons of museum quality. Initially created to preserve this sacred form of art and to display the true masterpieces of Eastern Orthodox iconography, Russian Icon Collection has become a reliable place where everyone can enjoy and sell authentic antique icons and religious artifacts.
