Oleg Kushnirskiy’s fruits of several decades of meticulous collecting labor have finally seen the world at an exhibition titled “Masterpieces of Sacred Art from the Oleg Kushnirskiy Collection,” which has recently opened at the Museum of Russian Art (TMORA). Oleg Kushnirskiy is widely known as a collector of antique Orthodox icons from the 17th to the 19th centuries, including icons from the Imperial period of Russia. The exhibition opened on October 26, 2024, featuring over 60 selected icons from Kushnirskiy’s collection, and is on view at the Museum through January 26, 2025.
The Official Opening Ceremony
Oleg and Ilya Kushnirskiy were both present at the official ceremony of opening the exhibition for public viewing, expressing their gratitude for the unique opportunity of making their family’s icon collection accessible to broader interested audiences at the platform of TMORA. Oleg confessed that the collection had been primarily kept in art storage, so he was thankful for the chance to put its major part on the wall and admire it in its completeness. He also pointed out that this exhibition is the result of a long journey leading to the glorious moment of showing his collection to people. In his opinion, this art can be interesting to many people, regardless of religion and nationality, and can unite people around the spiritual sense and beauty of Orthodox icons.
Ilya Kushnirskiy, Oleg Kushnirskiy’s son and director of the collection, also thanked the Museum and recollected the early days of the collection, when his father recognized the deep esthetic and cultural value of antique icons, the works of art that used to be treated as decorative pieces rather than collectibles in those times. He pointed out that “Masterpieces of Sacred Art” became a remarkable milestone in his father’s collecting path and made Oleg Kushnirskiy’s dream of making it a museum-grade collection come true.
Masterpieces of Sacred Art: A Collection with a Narrow Focus
The majority of icons in Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collection relate to one popular theme in icon painting – The Resurrection of Jesus Christ (Descent into Hell). The backbone of the collection is comprised of the works created in the recognized Russian icon painting centers – Palekh, Mstyora, and Guslitsy – each with a signature painting style and characteristic elements that iconography experts and scholars can now research in a more structured way. Some exhibits feature the full cycle of the liturgical year’s events, which was a popular theme among Palekh icon painters.
“Masterpieces of Sacred Art from the Oleg Kushnirskiy Collection” is on view at TMORA’s Mezzanine Gallery in Minneapolis, MN, through January 26, 2025.
Photos by Eli Plunkett