The Savitsky Collection: The Extraordinary Art of Resistance

The erratic story of the Karakalpakstan State Museum is inextricably linked to the story of its founder Igor Savitsky. Born in 1915 into a wealthy aristocratic family in Kiev, Savitsky developed a passion for the traditions and folklore of Uzbekistan in his youth. Eager to preserve this ancient culture, which was threatened by the overbearing communist culture, Savitsky modestly started collecting miscellaneous artefacts originated from the steppe, as well as works by artists from the Uzbek School. In the 1920s and the 1930s, the collector saved an unprecedented amount of Soviet Art from being destroyed by the communist government. This period saw the blooming of the Russian Avant-Garde along with a myriad of other experimental movements such as Constructivism, Cubism and Futurism – movements that were born out of thriving cultural exchanges between Paris and Moscow. However, after the development of social realism in 1932, only mainstream art glorifying an idealized Soviet society was tolerated: any deviation from that project appeared suspicious and was violently labelled as ‘decadent bourgeois art’ by Stalin and his ministers.
This is when Savitsky courageously began his voyages to Moscow, where he bought art from the families of dissident artists. Some of the works had been abandoned for so long that Savitsky found them roughly piled up, withering in attics and basements. At the time, the Uzbek authorities granted money to Savitsky for the development of his collection. Although the budget was not substantial enough to pay for Chagall or Malevich, Savitsky could afford to buy exciting paintings from destitute and forgotten artists – many of whom were savagely executed during Stalin’s purges or died in mental hospitals or the gulag.
In 1966, Savitsky opened the museum – not only to publicly display his vast collection but also to shelter it. Despite the Karakalpakstan region’s economic woes and remoteness, it nurtured in the 1960s an intellectual and cultivated environment that embraced Savitsky’s initiative. Soon enough the word was out that an eccentric collector had opened a remarkable museum, and Savitsky became popular in dissident intellectual circles where he was quietly celebrated. Even state officials left the museum alone.
Watch this trailer of The Desert of Forbidden Art (Pope, 2010), a documentary about Igor Savitsky.
In the 1990s, parts of the collection were lent to German and French institutions, but the Uzbek Ministry of Culture subsequently prohibited Babanazarova from lending more works. Some have argued that this curious policy reflects the country’s attempt to promote Uzbek native art forms such as engraving and weaving instead of the imported Russian cultural heritage. To make matters worse for Marinika Babanazarova, a number of descendants of Russian artists, perhaps seeing an opportunity in the enhanced prestige of the collection, have come forth threatening to sue the museum on the grounds that Savitsky took advantage of ignorant widows in order to obtain valuable works of art.