History of formation and exhibition of the collection of Oriental countries in Sukachev Irkutsk Regional Art Museum

The article presents key moments of formation and life of the collection of Oriental (in particular, Buddhist) art in Sukachev Irkutsk Regional Art Museum. Based on archive sources and documents of the Department of conservation as well as on the studying of original artworks, the author made an attempt to determine, to systematize and to analyze exhibition activity of Irkutsk Regional Art Museum through the example of the collection "Art of Oriental countries". Irkutsk Regional Art Museum has a unique collection of Oriental art of more than 2500 works of art from China, Japan, India, Mongolia. This collection is one of the largest and the most significant in of Siberian and Ural regions. Among the main sources of formation of Oriental art collection of Sukachev Irkutsk Regional Art Museum, the contribution of the East Siberian Branch of Imperial Russian Geographical Society requires special attention. According to the documents of holdings of the Irkutsk Regional Art Museum (books of acquisition), significant part of works of Oriental art passed into museum's possession from ethnographic department of Irkutsk State Museum of former East Siberian Branch of Imperial Russian Geographical Society in 1920-1930s. The article reviews the history of exhibition activity of the department of Oriental art of Sukachev Irkutsk Regional Art Museum in different periods - from the first decades of 20 century, when Irkutsk Regional Art Museum was just a gallery of Irkutsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, History and Economy, up until now. A detailed account is given to the activity of the museum in 1990-2000s. In this period, plan of exhibition projects of permanent exposition "Oriental Art" (displayed in the main building of the museum at Lenin str., 5) was developed. After the analysis of exhibition activity of Sukachev Irkutsk Regional Art Museum related to the exhibitions of Oriental art (exhibitions from other museums; exhibitions dedicated to the particular themes; exhibitions based on the museum's own collection, etc.) over a previously mentioned period, relevance and importance of this decision were proved by the author of the article. Individual attention was paid to the problems of existence and attribution of works of Buddhist art. Buddhist art is presented in the permanent exposition "Mongolian Art" by traditional Buddhist painting - thangka. The author of the article describes this collection, main stages of its acquisition, conservation, restoration, studying and exhibition, and also points out the unique character of the collection and necessity of its further development and research.

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