Oleg Kushnirskiy’s private collection of Russian icons has finally seen the world and been presented to broad audiences at a new icon exhibition at TMORA. The exhibition, titled “Masterpieces of Sacred Art from the Oleg Kushnirskiy Collection,” opened at the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis, MN, on October 26, 2024, and is on view until the end of January 2025. During these months, all interested appreciators of 17th-19th-century iconography have a unique opportunity to see 60+ icons thoroughly collected throughout the years of Oleg Kushnirskiy’s searches and purchases.

The Opening Event of “Masterpieces of Sacred Art”

The official opening of the exhibition took place at TMORA on October 26, with Oleg Kushnirskiy and his family members present at the ceremony. Oleg used this opportunity to express gratitude to the Museum’s curators for the chance to bring his collection to the spotlight of wider audiences and to show the unique Russian icons to people. He pointed out that this exhibition at TMORA is a sort of culmination and a vital promotion for his collection, which bears important scientific, artistic, and spiritual value for many people, regardless of their religion or nationality.

Ilya Kushnirskiy, director of the collection and son of Oleg Kushnirskiy, underlined his father’s unique sense and intuition about 17th-19th-century icons, which developed into his life’s passion and commitment. He pointed out that at the moment of initiating the collection, the icons of that period were mostly treated as decorative pieces rather than collectibles with distinct cultural or artistic value. It was Oleg Kushnirskiy’s perseverance and Ilya’s later engagement with the art shipping business that enabled them to travel across the USA and enrich the collection with new items.

Icon Exhibition at TMORA: The Vital Milestone in Oleg Kushnirskiy’s Collecting Journey

“Masterpieces of Sacred Art” has become a vital stepping stone in Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collecting process. What started as a passion for a specific iconographic period and school (the largest portion of the collection comes from major icon painting centers of Palekh, Mstyora, and Guslitsy and depicts a popular theme of the Resurrection of Christ) has turned into an extensive cultural heritage artifact.

Due to the efforts of Oleg’s son, Ilya Kushnirskiy, the Kushnirskiy family has managed to build vital connections with the research and scientific community. The present-day collection offers a structured dataset and reference method for scholars studying iconography of the period and wishing to reproduce the techniques and approaches used by icon painters of the past. The catalog of Oleg Kushnirskiy’s collection was recently published with the support of Fine Art Shippers and the EKSMO Publishing House, while the icon exhibition at TMORA has become a new page in the collection’s story of expanding visibility.

Photos by Eli Plunkett