«A city without an art museum is a flawed city.
«is a flawed city. «even more so
«than a city without a theater or a cinema.
«It’s a city blind to aesthetic
values, deaf to the past.»
Д. Likhachev.
Berdyansk Art Museum named after I.I. Brodsky. I.I. Brodsky is relatively young among the museums of Ukraine, in November 2010 it celebrated its 80th anniversary. The idea of its foundation arose from the painter and graphic artist, doctor of art history and professor, collector I.I. Brodsky (1884-1939). In the late 1930s. XX century. he wrote a statement to the Berdyansk City Council on the desire to «…promote the establishment of an art museum-gallery in Berdyansk …», for which he promised to donate paintings of prominent Russian artists, as well as «…help this museum all his life».
The beginning of his personal collection was laid while he was still studying at the Academy of Fine Arts, but the main, the bulk of it, the artist collected after the revolution — in the 1920s-1930s — when the huge collections were left practically ownerless. Brodsky, being in the center of the entire art market, knew where and what is deposited for state storage, what can be taken away, just for fun, what to buy in a commission store. Thus, he managed to collect about a thousand works, «pearls of Russian art» — works by I.E. Repin, I.K.A. Korovin, B.M. Kustodiev, M.A. Vrubel, A.Y. Golovin, N.K. Roerich, I.I. Levitan, Surikov, V.V. Makovsky, V.A. Serov, A.N. Benois, B.D. Grigoriev, A.E. Yakovlev, M.Z. Chagall, etc., which were housed in his studio apartment.
Realizing his idea, I. Brodsky in the summer of 1930, with the help of his young students, transported his collected works to Berdyansk. For the «Picture Gallery them. Honored Art Worker I. Brodsky» (the original name), was allocated the second floor of the city museum of local lore (in the building of the former city government). The grand opening, timed to the 13th anniversary of the October Revolution, took place on November 8, 1930.
Berdyansk museum of local lore named after I. Brodsky consists of departments. I. Brodsky Museum of Local History consists of the departments of art gallery, evolutionary cabinet, sections of nature, history and reconstruction of Berdyansk district. The art gallery includes 304 copies of paintings by Russian artists, of which there are 266 paintings with pre-revolutionary themes and 38 with revolutionary themes. The majority of these paintings are authentic and only 5 of them are repeats and copies. Sculptural works in the gallery there are 7 copies and artistic bronze — 3 statuettes. In addition, the gallery has porcelain — peoples of the USSR 18 copies.
The composition of the collection reflected I. Brodsky’s tastes and predilections, his connections with contemporary artists. The collection came to the museum in several stages — the first part of I. Brodsky transferred at once. Brodsky handed over immediately, by the opening of the museum, and the rest of the collection was received for several more years (200 works of painting, graphics, sculpture).
A special place in the museum’s collection took the works of the artists-peredvizhniki: Bialynitsky V.K., Dubovskogo N.N., Zhukovsky S.Y., Kramskogo I.N., Levitan I.I., Makovsky K.E., Petrovichev P.I., Repin I.E., Ryabushkin A.P., Savitsky K.A., Savrasov A.K., Turzhansky L.V., etc. Many works of the Russian academic school of painting are in the collection of the BHM: K.A.Veshchilov, V.B.Aden, Serov V.A., Polenov V.D., Samokish N.S. (was acquired in 1949, from a private person Nikolaeva R.S.), etc.. A large influx were the works of students-practitioners VAH, whose arrival in Berdyansk I.Brodsky organized in 1935. A significant number of works belong to Soviet artists of the period 1920-1930.
After the death of I.Brodsky (in 1939), the museum was practically not replenished. By the beginning of 1941 the museum collection consisted of about 500 items, the museum library and a small inventory.
The question of providing new premises was relevant for many years, but only in March 1962 the museum was moved to another building (Kirov Street). It was several small rooms with stove heating, the funds were placed in one room (total area 200m2).
The peculiarity of the following years was the intensive replenishment of the museum collection. Works were accepted as gifts, acquired from artists and their heirs, according to the orders of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR. The museum collection was enriched with works by A.A. Shovkunenok, T.N. Yablonskaya, A.M. Gritsai, P.I. Kotov, E.V. Volobuev, P.I. Petrovichev, etc. In 1973 P.P.Belousov presented 38 of his etchings; relatives of I.Brodsky gave 7 works of the artist; in 1979 the museum received 13 works of N.P.Glushchenko; relatives of Berdyansk artist Khast Y.S. presented 636 works of painting and graphics.
In the following years the small financing did not allow to make new purchases, and the last receipts from the state fund were in the spring of 1991. Since that time the replenishment of the museum collection is carried out only in the form of gifts from private individuals.
On June 1, 2007, in the renovated premises, the grand opening of the I.I. Brodsky BHM took place, which became one of the main events of the «Museum Podii Roku» (Ukraine 3000 Foundation). The building with the total area of 1000 m.2. meets all the norms of museum valuables storage (equipped with air-conditioning, ventilation, gas fire extinguishing system, alarm system) and opens great opportunities for all kinds of museum activities. At present the museum fund consists of 4508 items, including: paintings — 964 items, sculpture — 95 items, graphics — 3414 items, applied art — 35 items. The efforts of the museum staff are aimed at forming a positive image of the museum, ready for multilateral cooperation and innovative forms of work. The research continues, new facts and maybe new discoveries are ahead.