The ancient Russian city of Tula is famous not only for its gunsmiths and gingerbreads well-known throughout the country, but also for its long-standing artistic traditions dating back to pre-revolutionary times, when a museum of fine arts was created in the city in the 19th century. As a result, many of Polenov’s and Surikov’s, Shishkin’s and Serov’s paintings were not known to the townspeople by reproductions, but became a part of their spiritual life.
Patriotic endeavor
In 1884, that is, during the reign of Sovereign Alexander III - a staunch Slavophil and a passionate supporter of the original path of development of Russia - on the initiative of the diocesan administration of Tula, a national museum was founded in the city, called the Treasury. Later, already in 1902, this Slavic and somewhat archaic name was replaced by a more modern one, becoming to call it the Chamber of Antiquities.
However, its essence remains the same. As before, works of art related to Russian history, and especially to the past of the Tula region, were acquired, became part of the museum collection and were carefully studied by both local specialists and those who arrived from Moscow for this purpose. Most of the exhibits collected at that time were donations from private collectors who wished in this way to contribute to the common patriotic endeavor.
From the newspapers of that time it is known that on Sundays and holidays, everyone had free access to the hall where the exposition was located, and about the extraordinary popularity that it enjoyed. Soon, the premises the fund had at its disposal ceased to accommodate the collection that had grown by that time, and in 1908 the city authorities built a special building for it in the Tula Kremlin .
Expropriation, replenished the museum
The situation changed after the October revolution, when the collection of the House of Antiquities was nationalized, and it was transformed into the Tula Museum of Fine Arts. As you know, immediately after coming to power, the Bolsheviks carried out a large-scale expropriation of the artistic (and all other) values that belonged earlier to representatives of the wealthy sections of society. During this campaign, many works of art from rich country estates replenished the museum's exposition.
Since the Bolsheviks did not distinguish between the works of domestic and foreign artists, and seized everything that the previous owners could not hide or take abroad, the Tula Museum of Fine Arts, which received the paintings, soon lost its former, narrow-ethnic orientation. In his halls there were canvases of such recognized Western European masters as Luca Giordano, Domenico Fetti, Frans Sneijders and many others.
Transformations of the first Soviet years
In 1918, to systematize all the works that came to the museum from suburban estates, the city department of public education created a commission, which included artists and art historians who arrived from Moscow. As a result of their work, catalogs of exhibits and their descriptions were compiled. It took a year for a detailed acquaintance with all the works of art of the commission, after which museum halls were open to the general public.
In 1927, the Tula Museum of Fine Arts was renamed the Museum of Local Lore, since a significant part of its exhibition belonged to the department of local history created under it. A year earlier, the museum was replenished with a collection of paintings from the exhibition hall of the local Art and Industrial College. It was mainly composed by the works of Tula artists, but there were exhibits transferred from the funds of the Tretyakov Gallery.
The further life of the museum
As a result of these and a number of other receipts, the number of exhibits expanded significantly, and in 1939 a decision was made to create two independent museums - the regional and art museums. Thus the Tula Museum of Fine Arts once again became an independent exhibition center.
Subsequently, the museum went through many difficult periods of its history, the main of which was the war and the associated evacuation to Siberia. It was not easy to return to the destroyed and just beginning to rebuild Tula. The museum did not have its own premises in those years, and it was placed in the city House of Officers, where he had to stay for almost two decades.
Housewarming and the subsequent expansion of the exposure
Only in 1964 a building was built for him at 64 Engels Street. Since that time, his collection has been replenished to a large extent through acquisitions from private collections in Moscow, Leningrad and Tula itself. Suffice it to say that it includes paintings by Polenov, Shishkin, Repin, Borovikovsky and other artists whose names are known throughout the world. Due to subsequent replenishment, the list of these names has expanded significantly.
Among the masters, whose works are the pride of the museum, a special place is occupied by I.K. Aayvazovsky. The paintings of this outstanding marine painter constantly attract attention, and in the hall where they are exhibited, it is always crowded.
Association of Tula Museums
In 1995, the entire exhibition complex was included in the newly created association of the Tula Museum of Fine Arts. Tula is a city of long-standing artistic traditions, and interest in art has never faded away in it, so the abundance of museums and art galleries is quite natural. The problem was only in finding ways to better organize their work.
For this purpose, five of them were decided, including the one located at 64 Engels Street (which we are talking about) - to unite together. As a result, the total exhibition area of the complex amounted to ten thousand square meters, which allowed, in addition to permanent exhibitions, to demonstrate works coming from the collections of numerous museums of the country and private collections on its territory.
Regional Museum of Federal Importance
In 2013, the museum received a new name. Since that time, it became known as the Tula Regional Art Museum. It is no exaggeration to say that he rightfully became one of the largest exhibition complexes in Russia. Today, his collection consists of more than twenty-three thousand exhibits, among which are works of painting, sculpture, decorative art and folk crafts.
The museum’s exhibition catalogs are decorated with the names of many Russian brush masters, such as Levitan, Korovin, Tropinin and Aivazovsky. The paintings of these artists are frequent guests of exhibitions organized by leading museums of the world. Of great value is also a collection of Western European painting, which includes the creations of recognized geniuses of Italy, France, the Netherlands and many other countries.
Museum educational activities
The activities of the museum are not limited to the organization of exhibitions. Its employees conduct a large scientific and, very importantly, educational work. Based on the material filmed in the museum halls, several thematic programs were released on the Kultura TV channel and a number of others, which provide airtime for propaganda of the aesthetic education of Russians.
In addition, on the shelves of the country's bookstores you can see many publications containing reproductions of paintings and graphic works stored in the museum, as well as articles dedicated to them by leading Russian art historians.