Revisiting the Documentary film "the passion of Igor Savitsky".

Документальный фильм «Страсть Игоря Савицкого». Режиссер - Али Хамраев.

A documentary film "the passion of Igor Savitsky". Director - Ali Khamraev 1998, Ali Khamraev, Uzbekistan/Italy/France, 82 min. With Arielle Dombasle, Abdrashid Abdrakhmanov, Djavakhir Zakhirov.

The film "The Passion of Igor Savitsky" was released on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Directed by  Ali Khamraev  the film to the legendary Igor Savitsky  a collector of art and great supporter of preserving the culture of the peoples of Uzbekistan and Karakalpakstan.

Igor Vitalievich Savitsky left Moscow as a young artist for the deserts of Central Asia in the early post war years.  The film following the path of Igor Vitalievich filming in Moscow, Tashkent and Nukus, and in the different regions of Karakalpakstan. Everywhere the filmmakers went, local residents gladly shared their memories of this amazing man. They interviewed many who remembered him including the son of the legendary artist Alexander Nikolaevich Volkov - Alexander Volkov, the President of the Pushkin Museum. А.С. A.S.. Pushkin - Irina Antonova, Savitsky successor - Marinika Babanazarova, Alvina Shpade - colleague and colleague of Igor Savitsky, the sculptor - Zholdasbek Kuttymuratov and many others who all share their memories and tell the story of the formation of Igor Savitsky as a collector and creator of the unique museum named after him in Nukus. The film presents a list of artists works saved by Igor Vitalievich: Nikolai Karakhan, Mikhail Kurzin, Alexander Nikolaev (Usto Mumin), Tansykbaev Ural, Mazel Ruvim, Benkov Pavel, Ufimtsev Viktor, Borovaya Nadezhda and many others. 

Igor Savitsky's fascination with the search for ancient treasures and his love of the avant-garde has resulted in the creation of one of the most unique art museums in the world, well worth visiting for anyone who is visiting  western Uzbekistan.  Nukus is only  a few hours drive north of Urgench, and for those who are staying in Khiva the museum can easily be visited on a day trip. For those that have more time there are a number of excellent hotels in Nukus allowing them to experience the unique culture and sights of Karakalpakstan.

IGOR SAVITSKI Peintre, collectionneur, fondateur du Musée (French Edition)

Le mémoire de Mme Babanazarova, basé sur sa thèse de 1990 à l'Institut de Théâtre et D'art de Tachkent, s'appuie sur la correspondance, les dossiers officiels et d'autres documents d'Igor Savitsky et de sa famille, qui sont devenus disponibles dernièrement, ainsi que sur les souvenirs de nombreuses personnes ayant connu Savistky personellement, ainsi que sur sa propre expérience de travail a ses cotés, en tant que successeur designé.

Comme son titre l'indique, le livre se concentre sur les trois dimensions clés de la vie d'Igor Savitsky et de ses contributions à l'histoire culturelle et à la vie d'Asie centrale. D'abord sa propre carrière d'artiste-peintre avec plus de 700 oeuvres, puis comme collectionneur, tout d'abord d'antiquités du Khorezm et d'art Karakalpak, puis d'art avant-gardiste proscrit; et, finalement, son rôle de fondateur puis,pendant 18 ans jusqu'à sa mort prématurée en 1984, de directeur du musée, qui pris son nom a titre posthume.

Source: http://www.amazon.com/SAVITSKI-Peintre-collectionneur-fondateur-Edition-ebook/dp/B008I7ETV8

Musee Igor Savitsky

Le Musée Igor Savitsky (encore appelé Musée d'art de Noukous ou de son nom complet, Musée d'art d'État de la République du Karakalpakstan) est un musée d'art ouzbek situé à Noukous, capitale de la république autonome du Karakalpakistan.

Collections

Ouvert en 1966, le musée abrite une collection de plus de 82 000 pièces, allant des antiquités du Khorezm à l'art populaire du Karakalpakstan, l'art ouzbek et la deuxième plus grande collection d'avant-garde russe dans le monde (après le Musée Russe de Saint-Pétersbourg).

Le musée rassemble notamment une collection d'œuvres d'artistes russes de la période d'avant-garde (entre 1918 et 1935), emmenées loin de Moscou par le conservateur Igor Savitsky, ce qui permit d'éviter leur destruction voulue dans le cadre du réalisme socialiste soviétique.

Savitsky a profité de l'isolement pour accumuler et donc sauvegarder cet art promis à la disparition. Le musée qui porte désormais son nom expose aussi un grand nombre d'objets historiques et d'art populaire, provenant notamment des régions du Karakalpakistan et du Khorezm, mais aussi des icônes russes ou de l'art moderne ouzbek et karakalpak.

La veuve du peintre français Fernand Léger a également fait don de nombreuses copies d'œuvres exposées au Musée du Louvre, afin de permettre un accès plus large à la culture aux populations locales.

Biography of Igor Savitsky, Founder of the Karakalpakstan Museum by Marinika Babanazarova

Igor Savitsky - Artist, Collector, Museum Founder - Marinika Babanazarova.

The Savitsky State Art Museum named after Igor Savitsky in Nukus the capital Karakalpakstan contains an astounding 90,000 works including a comprehensive collection of Karakalpak art and ethnographic items and the largest collection of Soviet avant-garde art outside Russia (rivalled only by St. Petersburg’s Russian
Museum).




Russian artists, caught up in the idealism of the early Soviet days, were drawn by the exoticism of Central Asia. They visited the region, some settling there, and painted exuberant works fusing modernism with orientalism. Simultaneously Uzbek and Karakalpak artists were producing remarkable pieces influenced in particular by primitivism.

This frenetic period of modernist experimentation lasted for a decade after the revolution. In 1932-33 Stalin promulgated the decree 'On the Reconstruction of Literary and Art Organizations' and those artists whose works did not meet the 'radiant future' style of socialist realism found their paintings removed from galleries and were unable to participate in exhibitions and like others out of step with this turbulent era, often subject to repression.

Igor Savitsky was born in Kiev in 1915. He first came to Central Asia as a student during World War II, when the Institute in which he was studying was evacuated to Samarkand. In 1950 he went to Karakalpakstan as the artist on the Khorezm Archeological and Ethnographic Expedition, and, fascinated by the culture and people of the steppe, he stayed on after the expedition finished in 1957.

He took the opportunity to explore the region and started collecting Karakalpak carpets, costumes, jewelry, and other works of art and artifacts. In the early 1960’s he persuaded the local authorities in Nukus that they needed a museum to store and exhibit them and in 1966 he became its first curator.

Savitsky also collected drawings and paintings of artists linked to Central Asia and most famously he began his amazing collection of thousands of works from all over the USSR by avant-garde artists including Alexander Volkov, Ural Tansykbayev and Victor Ufimtsev of the Uzbek school, Kliment Red’ko, Lyubov Popova, Mukhina, Ivan Koudriachov and Robert Falk of the Russian avant-garde movement amongst many others.




















This amazing collection today is regarded by many including UNESCO of being of immense importance to Uzbekistan's cultural heritage.

Marinika Babanazarova has been the museum's director since Savitsky's death in 1984. Her grandfather served as one of the early leaders of the region. Savitsky often visited her family's house in Nukus and later, Tashkent. Her memoir draws upon correspondence, official records, and other documents about the Savitsky family that have become available during the last few years, as well as the recollections of a wide range of people who knew Igor Savitsky personally.

As she states in the foreword to this deeply moving and personal narrative: “I hope this memoir will serve not only as a multifaceted, broad-based portrait of a great man who was my mentor, but also as a tribute to his legacy.”

The book is available at the Nukus museum and also online now through Discovery Books, London. (around A$24 including postage to Australia).

If you are visiting Nukus this book and many other excellent art books, catalogues, poscards and traditional arts and crafts are available at the museum for purchase.

Visiting the museum's website provides a valuable overview of its history and collection before your visit.

See http;//museum.kr.uz/eng

Source : Uzbek journeys - Art and Craft Tours to Uzbekistan and a number of other sites.

More information on the Art movement known as Socialist Realism see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_realism