Interview with the Curator of the First Museum Exhibition of the Oleg Kushnirskiy Icon Collection

The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis, MN, is hosting an exhibition of icons from the collection of Oleg Kushnirskiy, on view until January 26. We spoke with the exhibition’s curator, Maria Zavialova, about the preparation process, the approach she chose for the exhibition, and what sets this collection apart from other American collections.

How did you get to know Oleg Kushnirskiy’s icon collection, and what impression did it make on you?

Maria Zavialova: Ilya Kushnirskiy, the collector’s son, first contacted us in 2018. At that time, we already had other shows planned, so the project was postponed due to a busy schedule. Our museum is the only specialized museum of Russian art in America. Therefore, our program is packed with exhibitions on a wide variety of topics, from photography and contemporary art to folk art.

About a year ago, we were able to carve out the time in our exhibition schedule for the display of Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collection. I received the materials and immediately became interested in the collection because of its integrity and careful item selection. It has a clear emphasis on certain iconographic schools, primarily the Palekh school, as well as on certain subjects. There are many icons of the Resurrection—the Descent into Hell in the collection. These features make it stand out among other iconography collections.

What approach did you take to exhibiting and hanging the collection?

As a curator, I always pay special attention to exhibition structure because an exhibition is a language in which individual pieces are words, and the exhibition’s structure is grammar. The exposition’s task is to slow down the viewing speed. It has to make the visitor devote an hour to the exhibits’ thoughtful “reading” instead of a ten-minute glance at them. A properly built structure can tell a lot without lengthy didactics, which some visitors don’t even read. 

Our museum is located in a former church, which creates additional challenges in the use of space. There are niches, arches of different sizes, and other architectural features that require a thoughtful approach to art object placement. The Palekh school is a key part of Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collection, and I thought for a long time about how best to present it. In the end, we decided to place the Palekh icons in an alcove, which we painted in black and gold colors. Above the alcove, we placed a thin vinyl sticker with the school’s name, designed in a style reminiscent of lacquer miniatures.

Another important part of the collection is made up of Menaion icons, depicting saints commemorated throughout the year. To present them in the best possible way, we created a composition of twelve monthly menaions arranged around the large icon containing the entire yearly Menaion, unifying the entire calendar. We placed the icons in a niche and mounted them on velvet-covered wooden panels. This arrangement looks like a modern installation, referring to the shape of the iconostasis but not imitating it. 

What materials, apart from the icons themselves, did you include in the exhibition and why?

The exhibition is accompanied by four texts. The first one is dedicated to the collector himself; it tells the story of how the collection was formed. The second text explains the exhibition’s guiding concept and introduces the viewer to the context of what they’re about to see. In the third text, I, as curator, describe the collection and its significance, as well as briefly talk about the Palekh icon painting school. This third text has a photograph of the town so that the visitor could visualize the place where the icons were created. 

The fourth text is historical. It talks about the fate of icons in Soviet times and the damage caused by the official anti-religious policy. As a vivid example, I included an episode about how museum workers saved icons during 1918–1920. Museum workers literally bargained with the Committees of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies for permission to enter churches slated for demolition and take away icons. With this text, I wanted to emphasize the role of museum workers and collectors in saving treasures of sacred art that survived the turbulent 20th century. This is not only a moment in the history of art preservation but also a kind of tribute to those who helped it survive.

Could you please tell us about the kind of feedback you get from the exhibition’s visitors? What do they pay the most attention to? 

Our tour guides often share the visitors’ impressions with me; they tell me what questions the guests ask and what arouses their interest most. The feedback about the exhibition has been very positive. For example, one of our guides recently held a tour for children. She told them about the calendar icons—the Menaia—and how children used to be given names in honor of the saints. That got them really excited! The children also loved the story about the full-length measure icons, which parents ordered at the birth of their child. Such details always resonate with visitors.

I would say, the visitors are attracted by the subtlety of icon painting. Our previous exhibitions featured a lot of icons of the Mother of God, representing different iconographic schools, which is typical for US collections. However, there were almost no Palekh icons. Here, this school is represented very well, and our visitors genuinely admire the skill of Palekh icon painters.

Ilya Kushnirskiy, Maria Zavialova, and Oleg Kushnirskiy

In your opinion, what significance does Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collection have on the North American continent? 

What makes the collection unique is its geographical and thematic focus. Private and museum collections in the US are quite diverse. There are many icons of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries produced by metropolitan icon-painting workshops. Unique icons, for example, 15th-16th-century works from Novgorod or Pskov, are hard to find. Such rarities can be seen only in large US collections, such as the Icon Museum and Study Center in Massachusetts. But for connoisseurs of the Palekh iconographic school, Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collection is of exceptional interest and value.

Photos by Eli Plunkett