History

Taganrog Museum of Art was officially inaugurated in 1968, but the basis of the museum collection was formed by the end of 19th century when the art department of the Taganrog

Taganrog

Taganrog is a seaport city in Rostov Oblast, Russia, located on the north shore of Taganrog Bay , several kilometers west of the mouth of the Don River. Population: -History of Taganrog:...

's city museum was established.

Renowned playwright and short-story writer Anton Chekhov

Anton Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. His career as a dramatist produced four classics and his best short stories are held in high esteem by writers and critics...

 played a major role in establishing the collection of his home city through his connections in St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and his friends like Mark Antokolski

Mark Antokolski

Mark Matveyevich Antokolski was a Russian sculptor who was admired for psychological complexity of his historical images and panned for occasional lapses into sentimentalism.-Biography:...

 etc.

The most important part of the museum collection was formed in the Soviet Union time, and features two departments - Russian art before the Russian Revolution of 1917

Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...

 and Soviet art.

The whole collection of art was looted from the museum during the Occupation of Taganrog

Taganrog during World War II

The Soviet city of Taganrog, now part of the Rostov Oblast of the Russian Federation, had an eventful history during World War II, from 1941 to 1945.-Defense of Taganrog:...

 in 1941-1943.

Since 1975, the museum of art is located at the former mansion of merchant Anton Handrin on Alexandrovskaya street 56.

Russian art before 1917

Among the paintings of this period exhibited at Taganrog Museum of Art are icon

Icon

An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...

s that date back to 17th and 18th centuries and paintings of the 18th and 19th centuries, including works by Fyodor Rokotov

Fyodor Rokotov

Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov was a distinguished Russian painter who specialized in portraits....

, Alexei Antropov

Alexei Antropov

Alexei Petrovich Antropov was a Russian painter active primarily in St. Petersburg, where he was born and died. He also worked in Moscow and frescoed churches in Kiev. His preferred medium was oil, but he also painted miniatures and icons....

, Orest Kiprensky

Orest Kiprensky

Orest Adamovich Kiprensky was a leading Russian portraitist in the Age of Romanticism. His most familiar work is probably Alexander Pushkin's portrait , which prompted the poet to remark that "the mirror flatters me".- Biography :...

, Alexey Tyranov

Alexey Tyranov

Alexei Vasilievich Tyranov was a Russian painter. Early in his career he painted icons with his brother; he then traveled to St. Petersburg to study at the Academy, where he took lessons with Alexey Venetsianov. From 1836 he was a pupil of Karl Bryullov...

, landscapes by Silvestr Shedrin, Nikanor Chernetsov, sculptures by Pyotr Klodt and Nicolas-François Gillet. The oil paintings of Ivan Khrutskoy and Ivan Aivazovsky

Ivan Aivazovsky

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky July 29, 1817 – May 5, 1900) was a Russian world-renowned painter of Armenian descent living and working in Crimea, most famous for his seascapes, which constitute more than half of his paintings...

 demonstrate the academic style of painting of that time.

The Realism (arts) of the late 19th century is represented with genre paintings and portraits by Konstantin Savitsky

Konstantin Savitsky

Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky was a Russian realist painter born in the city of Taganrog in the village Frankovka or Baronovka, named after former governor Otto Pfeilizer-Frank. Today this area is occupied by Taganrog Iron and Steel Factory TAGMET....

, Konstantin Makovsky

Konstantin Makovsky

Konstantin Yegorovich Makovsky was an influential Russian painter, affiliated with the "Peredvizhniki ". Many of his historical paintings, such as The Russian Bride's Attire , showed an idealized view of Russian life of prior centuries...

, Henryk Siemiradzki

Henryk Siemiradzki

Henryk Siemiradzki was a Polish 19th century painter active in the period of foreign Partitions of Poland, and best remembered for his monumental Academic art...

, Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky, Konstantin Makovsky

Konstantin Makovsky

Konstantin Yegorovich Makovsky was an influential Russian painter, affiliated with the "Peredvizhniki ". Many of his historical paintings, such as The Russian Bride's Attire , showed an idealized view of Russian life of prior centuries...

 and Vasily Maksimov, landscapes by Alexei Savrasov

Alexei Savrasov

Alexei Kondratyevich Savrasov was a Russian landscape painter and creator of the lyrical landscape style.-Biography:Savrasov was born into the family of a merchant...

, Isaac Levitan

Isaac Levitan

Isaac Ilyich Levitan was a classical Russian landscape painter who advanced the genre of the "mood landscape".-Youth:...

 and Arkhip Kuindzhi

Arkhip Kuindzhi

Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi was a Russian landscape painter.Arkhip Kuindzhi was born in January 1841 in Mariupol , but he spent his youth in the city of Taganrog. He grew up in a poor family, and his father was a Greek shoemaker Ivan Khristoforovich Kuindzhi...

, sketches by Viktor Vasnetsov

Viktor Vasnetsov

Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov , 1848 — Moscow, July 23, 1926) was a Russian artist who specialized in mythological and historical subjects. He was described as co-founder of folklorist/romantic modernism in the Russian painting and a key figure of the revivalist movement in Russian art.- Childhood ...

, Vasily Surikov

Vasily Surikov

Vasily Ivanovich Surikov was the foremost Russian painter of large-scale historical subjects...

 and Vasili Vasilyevich Vereshchagin

Vasili Vasilyevich Vereshchagin

Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin was one of the most famous Russian battle painters and one of the first Russian artists to be widely recognized abroad. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led many of them to never be printed or exhibited....

.
Works by Valentin Serov

Valentin Serov

Valentin Alexandrovich Serov was a Russian painter, and one of the premier portrait artists of his era.-Youth and education:...

, Philip Malyavin, Abraham Arkhipov, Konstantin Korovin

Konstantin Korovin

Konstantin Alekseyevich Korovin was a leading Russian Impressionist painter.-Biography:Konstantin was born in Moscow to a merchant family officially registered as "peasants of Vladimir Gubernia". His father, Aleksey Mikhailovich Korovin, earned a university degree and was more interested in arts...

, Leonard Turzhansky

Leonard Turzhansky

Leonard Viktorovich Turzhansky was a Russian impressionist painter.Leonard Turzhansky was born to a family of a medical doctor in Yekaterinburg a large Russian city in the Ural Mountains...

 and Nicholas Roerich

Nicholas Roerich

Nicholas Roerich, also known as Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh , was a Russian mystic, painter, philosopher, scientist, writer, traveler, and public figure. A prolific artist, he created thousands of paintings and about 30 literary works...

 illustrate the art of the end 19th/beginning of the 20th century.

Soviet art

The Soviet art is represented with paintings by several generations of Soviet artists, including Igor Grabar

Igor Grabar

Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar was a Russian post-impressionist painter, publisher, restorer and historian of art. Grabar, descendant of a wealthy Rusyn family, was trained as a painter by Ilya Repin in Saint Petersburg and by Anton Ažbe in Munich...

, Alexander Gerasimov

Alexander Gerasimov

Alexander Mikhaylovich Gerasimov was a leading proponent of Socialist Realism in the visual arts, and painted Joseph Stalin and other Soviet leaders....

, Nikolai Petrovich Krymov, Vladimir Stozharov; sculptures by Yevgeny Vuchetich

Yevgeny Vuchetich

Yevgeny Viktorovich Vuchetich was a prominent Soviet sculptor and artist. He is known for his heroic monuments, often of allegoric style.He was born in Yekaterinoslav, Russian Empire...

, Matvey Manizer

Matvey Manizer

Matvey Genrikhovich Manizer was a prominent Russian sculptor. Manizer created a number of works that became classics of socialist realism.- Life :...

; graphic art by Vladimir Favorskiy, Yuri Neprintsev

Yuri Neprintsev

Yuri Mikhailovich Neprintsev |Georgia]] - October 20, 1996, Saint Petersburg, Russia) - Soviet, Russian painter, graphic artist, art teacher, professor of the Repin Institute of Arts, People's Artist of USSR, a member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, lived and worked in Leningrad, regarded by...

 and Andrei Goncharov.