Le destin du musée national d’Art moderne occidental de Moscou (1918-1948)

Abstract

The destiny of the National Museum, of Western Modern Art in Moscow (1918-1948). The National Museum of Western Modern (« new ») Art (N.M.W.M.A.) of Moscow was born in 1918, thanks to the nationalization of two moscovite collections, Chtchoukine’s and Morosov’s. In 1928, the N.M.W.M.A.’s two national collections are brought together in a single place under the supervision of Ternovets. With the culural politicization imposed by the Soviet régime during the thirties, the N.M.W.M.A. has to justify the stylistic variety' of its french collections, which might be considered « bourgeois ». Ternovets intercedes in order to save the Museum in its genuine original state. Although its collections are preserved, the N.M.W.M.A.’s survival around the forties is difficult within a hostile, anti-occidental official artistic environment. Eventually, in 1948, the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party' arbitrarily votes the Museum’s supression. The disappearence of the N.M.W.M.A. really attests the closing down of cultural life under Stalin.