The Karakalpak state art museum named after I.V.Saviskiy

The Karakalpak state art museum named after I.V.Saviskiy – one of enormous museums in the republic. It was established in Nukus in 1966 and it has been named after I.V.Saviskiy since 1984. The basis for this museum is the collection of Saviskiy’s gathered objects of which karakaplpak national applied art. Total area of the museum covers 6.9 thousand km. The museums includes nation’s practical art, Khorezm art examples which are associated with the Ancient and the Middle Ages, Uzbek and Russian descriptive art which belong to the period between 1920 and 1930s, Karakalpak modern colorful descriptive art and sculpture, scientific-educational parts, the library (10 thousand works), reserve department and its workshop as well. The reserve department holds more than 85.000 exhibits (2004).

The works created by vanguard painters between 1920 and 1930s are gathered in the reserve department of the museum. Examples of their art in the fields of jewelry, wood engraving, embroidery, weaving (especially, tent objects) and other art masterpieces are collected at applied art division. Ancient Khorezm applied art division is being enriched with exhibits discovered by archeology groups of the museum. Especially, descriptive art section of the museum is multiplicative: the collection comprises the masterpieces by painters (I.Saviskiy, K.Soipov, J.Quttimurodov, D.Turaniyozov etc.), old painters’ generation of Central Asia A.Valkov, M.Kurzin, A.Nikoloyev, (Us to Mumin), N.Karakhan, O.Tansikboyev and others. In addition, the works by the painters: A.Shefchenvo, R.Falkov, V.Mukina, I.Grabar who were highly occupied with creating pictures during 1920 and 1930s and compositions by R.Mazel, K.Redko, A.Safronov and others whose creative works were hardly examined.

Exhibits of the museum are thoroughly special owing to the fact that they were collected in the monograph (from sketch line to masterpieces) method. Another outstanding feature of the museum is that exhibits are tightly packed and on the stalls the collections are fully represented. The museum is occupied with colleting and promoting art works, publishing catalogs as well as organizing exhibitions. There is a carpet workshop near the museum; the club named "Nukus muzeyining do’stlari” ("Friends of Nukus museum”) is functioning and it organizes exhibitions. The museum is a member of the International museum organization.

The museum exhibited karakalpak collection for the first time in the East Museumin Moscow in 1968 and 1969. It has attended to republic and international (USA, France,Italy, Japan, Russia etc.) exhibitions since the year 1970.

(Photo by sovminrk.gov.uz)