The Oleg Kushnirskiy Collection at the Icon Museum and Study Center
The Old Believer iconography occupies a significant place in the Orthodox tradition and represents a huge layer of the icon painting history of the Imperial Russia period. “Icons: Old Believers and Their World” at the Icon Museum and Study Center in Clinton, MA, offers a unique glimpse into Old Believer iconography. The exhibition opens on February 27, 2026, and will be on view through August 30, 2026, giving every appreciator of the centuries-old icon painting tradition an opportunity to get acquainted with over 30 masterpieces from the Oleg Kushnirskiy collection, along with the rare gems from the museum’s own collection.
Who Are Old Believers?
The Old Believer group of Russian Orthodox Christians diverged from the mainstream Russian church in the late 17th century as a result of religious reforms by Patriarch Nikon. Those people fled to rural areas at the outskirts of the Russian Empire and settled in small communities, following their well-established Orthodox worship and icon painting traditions. The Old Believer iconography is associated with fine painting and miniature details, distinguishing icons with technical accuracy and imaginative energy. Since Old Believers assigned enormous identity value to icons, their images have become timeless and universally relevant spiritual narratives. At present, the Old Believer artistic tradition is a subject of renewed research interest across the globe.
“Icons: Old Believers and Their World” is curated by Dr. Justin Willson, the museum’s former curator and Assistant Professor of Medieval Art at Yale University, and Elliot Mackin, the present-day curator of the museum. Their joint effort has resulted in a comprehensive snapshot into the Old Believer religious art and themes prioritized in the best-known icon painting workshops of those times, such as the liturgical calendar’s iconography and the Resurrection.
The Icon Museum and Study Center, Clinton, Massachusetts.
About the Oleg Kushnirskiy Collection
The Russian Icon Collection project embodies decades of Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collecting passion, which translated into a vast collection of icons spanning centuries of Russian icon painting. He spent many years expanding his collection with unique pieces of Old Believer’s religious art. Icons featuring the Resurrection of Christ and His Descent into Hell were of special interest to Oleg Kushnirskiy, though the collection also includes many other iconographic themes. At present, the Oleg Kushnirskiy collection features 60+ original hand-painted icons ranging from the 17th to the 19th centuries. They come from widely known Russian icon painting workshops, such as Palekh, Mstera, Kholuy, Guslitsy, and others.