A Russian art museum in Málaga has been saved from possible closure by a British enthusiast after she offered to exhibit her private collection of 76 works by Russian artists.
The works, dating from 1876 to 1980, belong to Jenny Green, who began collecting Russian art 20 years ago. In the 1960s Green was one of a group of people behind Granny Takes a Trip, the trend-setting Kings Road boutique in London.
It is the first time the collection has gone on public display and includes works by Venetsianov, Ivanov, Aivazovsky, Repìn, Serov, Bakst, Benois, Kandinsky, Serebriakova, Larionov, Goncharova, Chelischev and Essaian.
“With the exception of seven small works, this represents my entire collection,” Green said at the inauguration of the exhibition, which runs until 5 June.
As well as the Green collection, the Museo Ruso is hosting the exhibition For Sale, a study of exile by the Ukrainian couple Ilya and Emilia Kabakov.
The Museo Ruso, which is housed in a former tobacco factory, was founded in 2015 and is essentially the Spanish wing of the Russian State Museum in St Petersburg, and its first European offshoot.
The museum’s permanent and temporary exhibitions draw on the St Petersburg institution’s vast collection of more than 400,000 works. The Museo Ruso had mounted 40 exhibitions and had attracted 750,000 visitors before the Russian invasion of Ukraine threw the project into jeopardy.
When the war broke out, the museum had four exhibitions open: War and Peace in Russian Art, the Russian Vanguards, Mayakovsky, Artist and Poet and Dostoevsky on his bicentennial.
The museum initially hoped they could mothball the works but it soon became clear this was not tenable and the art was returned to Russia in early May.
Shortly afterwards the museum put on a Picasso exhibition but has struggled to keep going.
José María Luna, the museum’s director, says that as its relationship with the St Petersburg museum has been “interrupted”, the future lies in private and public collections such as Green’s.
“Our commitment to bring Russian art to Málaga is unchanged and we now need to find another way of doing it,” Luna said. “Russian culture isn’t responsible for what’s happening. Cancelling Russian culture doesn’t solve anything. Malevich and Tchaikovsky aren’t to blame for this situation and we will continue to work with culture as a bridge between people.
“We’re working with collections in Spain and Europe to cover our requirements in 2023 and, if necessary, in 2024. Our relationship with the St Petersburg is suspended but we have a contract until 2025 so we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
In recent years Málaga, long seen by many merely as a entry point to the Costa del Sol, has refashioned itself as a cultural destination. As well as a museum of contemporary art and one dedicated to Picasso, who was himself a malagueño, there is an offshoot of the Centre Pompidou and the Museo Carmen Thyssen Málaga.
