This edition was issued for the exhibition dedicated to the centenary of the first state museum of modern art, the Moscow Museum of Painterly Culture. From the late 1910s to the early 1920s, this museum, organised by left-wing artists, assembled the greatest collection of Russian avant-garde to date and performed unique research work. After the liquidation of the MZhK in 1929, over 700 of its artworks were transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery, which served as the first large acquisition to the Contemporary Art Departament. Beginning in the mid-1930s, the Museum of Painterly Culture vanished into oblivion for an extended period. The present edition is the first fundamental work to give a full picture of the Museum's history, its research work and library collection. Topical articles examine different aspects of how the MZhK Collection was assembled, exposition concepts and the activities of the Museum Bureau. The cataloque and two appendices constitute collection of artworks that arrived at the Gallery in 1929 and which was restored in preparation for the exhibition. The Documents sections contains important materials, including the 1929 'liquidation' lists that help evaluate the collection's scope and complexity of its life. The edition is intended for both specialists and those more generally interested in Russian art.
