About the museum

The Mogilev Regional Art Museum named after P.V. Maslenikova is located in the building, which is a monument of architecture of the beginning of the 20th century, and has features of modern, pseudo-Russian and late classicism styles. The author of the project is architect A. Drucker. Initially, the building was a land and peasant bank, and from 1919 to 1932 - the Mogilev State Historical Museum. Its place of interest was the armored room-safe, in which museum relics were kept, which came from nationalized estates, the Mogilev Church-archaeological and Governor’s museums. Among them: the Cross of Euphrosyne of Polotsk in 1161, made by Lazar Bogsha, a collection of Belarusian manuscripts and letters (175 units), weapons X-XIV kov (280 units), coins (1800 units), icons of the XVII-XIX centuries, the maze of Sigismund III, paintings by I. Aivazovsky, I. Repin, V. Serov and other famous artists, Archbishop Georgy Konissky’s miter of Mogilev, shroud of 1566, the work of a close relative of Ivan the Terrible’s wife Anastasia Romanovna - Anna Feodorovna Paletskaya, the first printed Myna, royal letters of the XVI-XVIII centuries ( units), handwritten Iermos 1697 year with drawings and much more. Their fate remained unknown in connection with the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, when the exhibits were taken outside of Mogilev. In 1944, after the liberation of the city, the building housed the regional committee and the town committee of the party, later the editorial office of the newspaper "Mogilyovskaya Pravda", and on November 19, 1990, the Mogilyov Regional Art Museum was opened.

The funds of the Museum collected works of art, graphics, sculpture, arts and crafts of Belarus, Russia, Western Europe, China. The beginning of the formation of the collection of the Mogilev Regional Art Museum served as the transfer of the Mogilev Regional Museum of Local History to 83 paintings, drawings, objects of decorative and applied art, which were transferred to the Mogilev Regional Museum of Local History. Fine art of Belarus of the XX-XXI centuries. occupies a significant place in the museum collection. First of all, it is connected with the year of creation and opening of the museum. Today Mogilyov land preserves and continues the artistic traditions of the past, is proud of the work of modern masters. This is evidenced by the activity of the Mogilev Regional Art Museum named after P.V. Maslenikova, which is a real center of art, where a unique collection of works of artists of Belarus and other countries is stored and popularized. Actively conducted exhibition excursion and lecture work.

A gift (July 28, 1994), Honored Artist, People’s Artist of the Republic of Belarus Pavel Vasilevich Maslenikov, whose name is one of the most famous and respected in Belarusian art, academia, and the international community, served as a new impetus for further development of the museum collection. 125 works of painting and theatrical-decorative art formed the basis for the opening of the Regional Art Museum named after him (January 22, 1996). The main monument to the creator is the memorial picture gallery of Pavel Vasilyevich Maslenikov. This is how the first art gallery in our Republic began to work, opened even during the life of the artist himself. It is located in the five halls of the first floor of the museum and became its first permanent exhibition.

In 1996, after the death of P.V. Maslenikova, the museum received a new status, perpetuating its memory - Mogilyov Regional Art Museum named after P.V. Maslenikova. This is the first regional museum in our country, bearing the name of a Belarusian artist who was born, grew up, formed and held as a citizen in Belarus. In September 1997, the “second birth” took place - the Picture Gallery. The exhibition is located in the beautiful halls of the second floor of the museum.

As part of the II International Plein Air Painting named after V.K. Byalynitsky-Biruli "The Image of the Motherland in the Visual Arts", in September 1997, a monument-bust of P.V. was erected near the museum building. Maslenikov sculptor Vladimir Letuna. In August 2008, the name Maslenikova was named after one of the streets of the city of Mogilev. The works of Pavel Vasilyevich Maslenikov are in the National Art Museum, in the museums of Minsk, Mogilev, Moscow, in private collections in Japan, France, Hungary, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. But the best collection is in Mogilev, in the Picture Gallery of P.V. Maslenikova.

Mogilev land, from time immemorial, rich in talented people, raised the artist P. V. Maslenikova, and he, a grateful son, paid his tribute to love and respect to his native land and people. Pavel Vasilyevich’s daughter, Vera Prokoptsova, noted that in the Gallery “there is an opportunity to fully perceive, to feel the spiritual world of the artist, to appreciate the master’s creative confidence, the hardness of his life principles, love for his native Fatherland. Here, in the Gallery of Pavel Vasilyevich Maslenikov, until the end we interpret the confrontation “yesterday” and “tomorrow”, “dailyness” and “eternity”, “for the first time” and “always”. Since that time, the museum’s funds have been replenished with the gifts of artists: E. Karpovich, G. Poplavsky, V. Napreenko, V. Raltsevich, V. Maslenikov, V. Alshevsky, F. Gumen, and others. The museum got the opportunity to create new permanent exhibitions and work with interchangeable exhibition projects.

Today, the museum’s collection includes 5,282 units of the main fund and 1,468 units of the auxiliary fund.

Lyrical traditions of landscape painting by I.Levitan were embodied in the works of the national artist of the BSSR and the RSFSR V.K. Byalynitsky-Birulya, born in Belarus. The museum has the work "Moonlight Night" in 1937, this remarkable artist.

And also in the collection of the museum are the works of famous masters of the republic: V. Gromyko, A. Barhatkov, V. Kudrevich, M. Savitsky, V. Tsvirko, L. Shchemelev, G. Vashchenko, A. Anikeichik, Z. Azgur, Y. Pen , Z.Litvinova, V.Kozhukh, V.M. Letun.

The generation of contemporary artists is represented by the works of G.N.Kononova, M.and G.Tabolich, V.N.Shpartov, B.I. Pervuninskikh, F.S. Kiselev, V.P.Napreenko, V.P. Masleniukova and others.

Works by P.V. Maslenikova, inconspicuous, at first glance, contain the main thing - a person who is in love with his work, a person who is generous and benevolent, who opens up to the viewer a wonderful world full of attractive diversity, reverent emotion, enchanting solemnity. Working for a long time as a theater artist, he began to subconsciously transfer certain theatrical scenery techniques to landscape painting. This is evident in the canvases “built”, made on the basis of etudes, but already in the workshop (“Winter Fairy Tale”, “At Mozyr Heights”, “Winter Evening”).

Small, written in nature, full of light and air, space, impressionistic landscapes “Breath of spring”, “Winter in Belarus”, “Forest thicket”, “Gold birch”, “In the winter forest” fill the halls of the gallery with sky expanses, transparency of Belarusian rivers and lakes, forest glades and thickets. From these trips the artist brought a series of works. Only a few of them are exhibited here: from the Crimean series - “The Parched Dry Stream”, “In the Crimean Mountains”, “Snow in the Crimea”, “Crimea in December”; Altai - “Augustus in Altai”, “Above the Frost”, “Beginning of the Biya”, “Above the Katun”; Carpathian - “February in the Carpathians”, “Prut River. Carpathians"; Baltic - “Rain over the Baltic”, “Baltic”.

The exposition is fairly widely represented: monumental fresco painting of the 18th century, collection of icon painting, Mogilev school of 17th century engravings (old printed books with engravings issued by M. Vashchenko’s printing house), decorative and applied art objects, 17th century tiles that were twelve years old. to collect, preserve, restore the team of the museum's scientific staff. The famous talented craftsman who lived in the second half of the 17th century was Klim Mikhailov, a wood carver from the city of Shklov, who owned high-tech craft and possessed great artistic taste. One of the first and possibly the only such work created by him in the 17th century on the territory of Belarus using a new technology, which received the name “Belarusian rez” (rebuild), is the iconostasis of the Nikolskaya church of the monastery in the city of Mogilev, fragments of which are represented in the exposition .

I would like to mention the most interesting exhibit in the “Printed Publications” collection of the book “New Sky” of 1699, which was published in the Mogilyov Bratsk Printing House of M. Voshchanka.

Original and interesting monument of monumental painting of the 50s. XVIII century, are the murals of the staircase of the Belynichsky monastery of the Carmelites, in the urban settlement of Belynichy, on which the monk Joseph worked with two assistants Schultz and Prozar. (Fresco - it means "fresh", "raw", derived from the Italian word "fresco"). In 1978, due to the emergency situation of the building, the remains of the monastery were to be blown up. Having learned about it, a group of restorers left for the place. The frescoes were removed and sent to Minsk for conservative work. And being in conservation, in 1995 appeared in the museum. Almost 20 years passed the restoration of the frescoes. These paintings are an example of the Mogilev school of monumental painting and make significant additions to our ideas about the development of ancient Belarusian painting in general. Today it is a unique and only monument in the post-Soviet space, so widely represented in the museum space.

The new permanent exposition "The Secret of the Cross" demonstrates a holographic image of the main symbol of the Christian faith - the Cross of Euphrosyne of Polotsk.