Thought this might be of general interest to the list, but especially to those following Russian book collections.

Sincerely,
Kristen Regina


For Immediate Release

HILLWOOD MUSEUM & GARDENS ACQUIRES LEADING COLLECTION OF RARE RUSSIAN BOOKS


February 22, 2001 - Hillwood Museum & Gardens, the former Washington, D.C., estate of visionary collector and philanthropist Marjorie Merriweather Post, announces the addition of an important collection of rare Russian books to its library.  The collection of approximately three hundred volumes is from the personal library of the late Dr. Nicholas Shoumatoff of Bedford, New York.  Within the history of American Slavic Studies, the Shoumatoff library has served as the principle resource for the monumental cultural history of Russia, The Icon and the Axe by James Billington.

Shoumatoff's rare book collection provides an historic overview of religious art as well as decorative arts in Russian imperial culture and is an important complement to Hillwood Museum's collection of Russian imperial art, which is considered to be the most comprehensive outside Russia.  Available to the public by appointment, Hillwood's library contains approximately 7,500 volumes and more than 10,000 auction catalogues that focus on French and Russian fine and decorative arts.  "We are thrilled to have been able to acquire this magnificent and rare assemblage of Russian books so suited to our collection,"said Frederick J. Fisher, Executive Director.  "This purchase perfectly dovetails with the museum's mission and vision, which declares that Hillwood will impart a scholarly voice on Russian and Western European decorative arts in the greater Washington, D.C. region."

The Shoumatoff collection will enhance the library's holdings with valuable resource materials such as Rovinskii's multi-volume Narodnoe kartinki and his six-volume collection of Russian portrait engravings, as well as design books by Viktor Butovskii and Vladimir Stasov.   The collection includes catalogues of important pre-revolutionary art collections (M.P. Botkin, Khanenko) and inventories of the great monasteries and churches.  There also are significant works on Russian icons and iconography, including the fundamental 19th-century texts written by pioneers in the field such as Filimonov, Rovinskii, Golyshev, Kondakov and Likhachev.  

Overall, the scope and quality of art historical scholarship in pre-revolutionary Russia is represented in the collection with important works by several generations of archaeologists and art historians, from Dmitrii Rovinskii in the mid 19th-century to Igor Grabar and Nikodim Kondakov in the early 20th-century.

The Shoumatoff collection was originally assembled in the 1920s and 1930s by Andre Avinoff, a connoisseur of religious icons and a former director of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh.  Upon his death, the collection was transferred to Avinoff's sister Elizabeth Shoumatoff, a Russian-born society portraitist and the mother of Dr. Nicholas Shoumatoff, who, in turn, bequeathed the collection to her son.  

Hillwood Museum & Gardens is located on 4155 Linnean Avenue, in Northwest Washington, D.C., overlooking Rock Creek Park.  The museum is open in January and from March through December on Tuesdays through Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on select evenings and Sundays.  Hillwood is closed on all national holidays except Veteran's Day.  Admission is by reservation only.  For general information, call the toll free line at 1 (877) HILLWOOD or (202) 686-8500 or visit the museum web site at www.hillwoodmuseum.org.  For reservations, call (202) 686-5807.  Hillwood Museum & Gardens is an accredited museum with the American Association of Museums.
                 
Press Contacts:  
Missy Snelling                          Kristen Regina
Director of Public Affairs                      Librarian       	
Hillwood Museum & Gardens                               Hillwood Museum & Gardens
(202) 686-8505, ext. 8704                       (202) 686-8505. ext. 8531
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