Soviet Art of 1940-1970 in Private Museums of Moscow: Principles of Collecting and Exposition

The collecting of art is experiencing a new stage of development in Russia: major collectors has opened their collectins to the public by creating for this purpose new museums and exhibit places. This study focuses on the collections of the businessman Alexey Ananyev and banker Natalia Opaleva, on the basis of which were created two private museums: the Institute of Russian realist art and the Museum of Anatoly Zverev. The study consists of an introduction, two chapters and a conclusion. The first chapter is devoted to the collection of the Institute of Russian realist art. We trace the history of the collection and the creation of the Museum, defined the main criteria for the selection of paintings in the collection, as well as ways of its replenishment. We are trying to analyze the part of the collection, which is formed by the paintings, created in 1940-1970’s. Along with the composition of the collection we consider and review the methods of constructing the exposition. The second Chapter is devoted to the Museum of Anatoly Zverev. It the second chapter we will trace the history of the collection and the Museum, and we will consider methods of constructing the exposition, and try to compare it with the exhibition of the collection of the Institute of Russian realist art.