Connections and collections: Britain’s National Art Library and the former USSR

Abstract

The National Art Library’s coverage of Russian and Soviet art is extensive if uneven, comprising some 20,000 titles. These include approximately 100 serials from the former USSR, a small number of manuscripts, some significant livres d’artistes, illustrated and illustrated childrens’ books, and many exhibition catalogues. The important Larionov/Gontcharova collection was begun when the Museum purchased certain items from an exhibition it organised itself in 1926; many more items (including part of the artists’ library) were acquired in 1961, and yet more have been added since. The Library’s collections of printed ephemera include work by El Lissitsky and Rodchenko. The collections in the Library, which are being developed partly through exchange, are complemented by examples of Russian fine and decorative arts in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum - the home of the National Art Library.