Memorable Dates of Russia: Moscow to host the "Alexei Bakhrushin. A Look into the Future" exhibition marking the 155th anniversary of the first Theatre Museum in Russia

From September 25, 2020, to March 1, 2021, the A. A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatre Museum (Moscow) presents an exhibition devoted to the 155th anniversary of Alexei Alexandrovich Bakhrushin, the creator of the first Theatre Museum in Russia.

Besides the exhibition, the anniversary program includes a special project of Russian Institute of Theatre Arts – GITIS, one of the leading theatrical universities in Russia - the "Silent Theatre" performance about the life of theatre groups during the quarantine. On September 25, there also will be an opening of the exhibition-installation "A Gift to Bakhrushin", which features artefacts donated to the museum by the leading Russian theatres and associated with the artlife of theatres during the quarantine. New acquisitions entered the museum collection in the frameworks of the extensive social networks campaign #VdarBakhrushinu.

Exposition of the anniversary exhibition "Alexei Bakhrushin. A Look into the Future" begins with the genealogical tree of the Bakhrushins and a portrait of Alexei Alexandrovich with his biography. The first section of the exhibition is devoted to the collector's associates. The photo-portrait gallery presents people who visited Bakhrushin's house and left their autographs in the home album. Among them are the director Konstantin Stanislavsky, the singer Fyodor Shalyapin, the artist Alexander Benois, the Italian tragedian Tommaso Salvini, the actress of the Maly Theatre Maria Ermolova and many others.

The Bakhrushins entered the history of Russian culture for their philanthropic contribution. The exhibition showcases historical and modern photographs of objects built by the Bakhrushins and gifted to Moscow and Zaraysk. Modern photographs of houses and churches constructed by the Bakhrushins were taken by the famous theatre photographer Alexander Ivanishin.

Alexei Bakhrushin, as an inexhaustible researcher of the history of the Russian theatre, preserved unique archives and historical documents. Some of them are available at the exhibition: the diaries of Matilda Kshesinskaya, the memoirs of Marius Petipa, the records of Vladimir Telyakovsky. Materials about A. A. Bakhrushin's scientific work at the State Academy of Arts, liquidated in 1930, will be released for the first time. The Bakhrushin’s collection of paintings and graphics includes the works of Golovin, Polenov, Korovin, Vrubel, Shishkin, Rodchenko, Exter, Goncharova and others.

The memorial section features personal belongings of Bakhrushin, photographs from the family archive, manuscripts, a family story about the summer travelling to Europe with Vera Vasilyevna Bakhrushina - the collector's wife and one of the first Moscow beauties and their children Yura and Kira. Documentary newsreels and music of the early XX century allow felling the atmosphere of the past time.

Alexei Bakhrushin believed that his work would be demanded by descendants. His collection became an encyclopedia of the Russian theatre. Thanks to Bakhrushin, the present generation may learn about the Russian theatre of the XIX century, great actors, artists, playwrights, composers, choreographers of the "golden age" of its history. The exhibition presents a great variety of materials about the Russian Imperial Theatres and its outstanding figures, a private enterprise, the origin of the Moscow Art Theatre.