Although the Georgia Museum of Art at the University of Georgia has been building a strong collection of Russian art over the past few years, it didn’t have a permanent place to display those works. But in late November 2020, the museum finished reinstalling its Martha Thompson Dinos Gallery to create a lasting space for Russian art. The display consists primarily of objects from the Parker Collection and the Belosselsky-Belozersky Collection, together spanning nearly three centuries of art. It includes portraits, silver, decorative arts, statuettes, icons, medals, coins and more.
In 2016, now-Parker Curator of Russian Art Dr. Asen Kirin organized an exhibition of works from the Parker Collection titled “Gifts and Prayers: The Romanovs and Their Subjects.” The exhibition focused on the exchange of gifts between the Russian rulers and their subjects as a means of maintaining power. The success of this exhibition attracted the attention of Russian Princess Marina Belosselsky-Belozersky Kasarda. As a result, the exhibition “One Heart, One Way: The Journey of a Princely Art Collection,” which focused on her family’s collection, a donation to the museum, was displayed in 2018 and announced the survival of portraits that had been thought lost as well as the existence of other highly significant works of art.
Despite the absence of a focus on Russian work in previous decades, such projects earned the Georgia Museum of Art a place among the nation’s major centers for Russian art. Each of the collections tells its own story, but Kirin says they unite here to “illustrate how a past society accomplished a certain level of cohesion regardless of dramatic class distinctions.”
Among the most notable objects on display are small items such as military medals and orders. Although miniature in size, they tell audiences a great deal about the shared values of the common people and the aristocracy in Imperial Russia. “The display is by no means an invitation to embrace royalism, but rather an opportunity to examine cultural values. The desire to excel and contribute to the society in which you belong is ultimately a way of overcoming the limitations of mortal existence, as these objects were meant to survive their owners,” said Kirin.
The size and significance of these small objects called for casing that accurately captured their relevance, not a simple task for preparators. They require a case that allows for the secure display of multiple small objects as well as proper lighting, but such a case was not in the museum’s possession. As a solution, the staff thought it best to place a custom vitrine order suited to their needs. Thanks to a generous grant from the Fraser-Parker Foundation of Atlanta, visitors can now find the custom case in the exhibit. To see the small objects, visitors can open three six-foot-wide drawers with motioned activated lighting as well automatic closure upon release.
Visitors can view these objects as well as others with a free timed ticket during the museum’s regular hours.
By Anna Morelock
