Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts named after Gapar Aitiev

Art Gallery in Kyrgyzstan

The Gapar Aitiev National Museum of Fine Arts is the main artistic treasure of Kyrgyzstan.

First, let’s explain who Gapar Aitiev is. This individual is a source of pride for Kyrgyzstan. He was one of the first Soviet Kyrgyz artists, a people's artist of the Kirghiz SSR and the USSR. He is the author of poetic landscapes full of epic tranquility, such as "Collective Farm Yard," "Noon on Issyk-Kul," "Surroundings of Andijan," as well as a number of portraits, genre paintings, and monumental murals. He was also a participant in the Great Patriotic War.

The art gallery, later renamed the Kyrgyz State Museum of Fine Arts, was opened on January 1, 1935.

The foundation of the museum's collection consisted of 72 works by Russian artists, acquired from the State Tretyakov Gallery and the People's Commissariat for Education of the RSFSR, personally selected by the museum's founder, the pioneer of Kyrgyz painting S. A. Chuykov. Since the first Republican exhibition in 1934, the museum's funds have been systematically replenished with works by artists from Kyrgyzstan.

Today, the museum's collection includes about 18,000 items. The structural division of the collection is organized by types of visual arts – painting funds (about 4,000 exhibits), graphics (about 9,600), sculpture (about 1,000), and decorative applied arts (more than 3,000).

Russian painting of the 18th-20th centuries is represented in the KNMFA in such a way that it can serve as an illustration of the history of visual arts in Russia across all its chronological stages and stylistic directions.

An interesting aspect is the department of decorative applied arts, which was created in the 1940s-50s.

The jewel of the museum's collection is the collection of Kyrgyz decorative applied arts. It showcases the full diversity of forms, all the most characteristic and significant: embroidery, felt products, wood carving, patterned weaving, leather embossing, and jewelry.

Even during Soviet times, regular expeditions were organized to collect works of folk art from Kyrgyzstan. In total, more than forty expeditions were organized throughout the country.

Kyrgyz folk art has developed based on centuries-old traditions, reflecting aesthetic norms and criteria, and expressing the people's love for beauty.

Many visitors to the Gapar Aitiev Museum are interested in the sculpture department, which began to form back in the 1930s. Currently, the museum houses over 900 sculptures from various periods.

Here you can find examples related to easel sculpture. You can also see monumental monuments and examples of medal art, as well as valuable pieces by sculptors who worked in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Among the well-known sculptors, names such as Vrubel, Mukhina, and Lanceray stand out. A large number of works from across the USSR showcase the uniqueness of multinational art.

The museum's collection of works by Kyrgyz artists allows for an assessment of cultural development and the formation of a national school, covering all stages of the development of professional visual arts.

The golden fund of the museum consists of works by the classics of Kyrgyz visual arts such as S. Chuykov, G. Aitiev, S. Akylbekov, A. Ignatiev, L. Ilina, A. Mikhalev, L. Mesarosh, O. Manuilova, T. Sadikov, D. Umetov, T. Gertsen, B. Jumabaev, A. Asrankulov, S. Aitiev, artists from different generations and artistic styles and directions.

Visitors to the country make it a point to visit the Gapar Aitiev National Museum of Fine Arts in Bishkek, just as citizens of Kyrgyzstan do when they visit the capital.