Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In one of the oldest museums in Kazakhstan - the State Museum of Arts named after Abylkhan Kasteev keeps unique paintings of Kazakh artists, whose life and creative destiny were connected with Uzbekistan. The collection is quite representative and diverse in genres and style. The artists reflected in their canvases and graphic sheets the originality and originality of the culture of Uzbekistan.

Galina Syrlybayeva, head of the foreign art department of the museum, spoke about the collection. She is also the author of an illustrated book-album about the cultural heritage of Central Asia, which is stored in the State Museum of Arts named after A. Kasteeva. The World Society for the Study, Preservation and Popularization of the Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan is working on publishing the book.

According to Galina Syrlybayeva, today the museum stores the works of 14 masters who have already become classics of the art of Kazakhstan of the 20th century. Their interest in the Uzbek theme was reflected in 68 works of various genres.

Kazakh artists were also attracted by the historical past of Uzbekistan, the grandeur and uniqueness of architectural monuments, nature, life and customs of the Uzbek people. Most of the works were created in the 1960s.

- In the 1960s, an extraordinary flowering of graphic art was observed in Kazakhstan. During this period, many artists who became famous masters began to work actively, who also turned to the theme of Uzbekistan in their work. The graphic collection is distinguished by a variety of techniques. The works are made in the technique of linocut, woodcut, monotype, lithography, watercolor. As an example, I can cite the series “Across Uzbekistan” by Andrey Dyachkin and “Portrait of an Uzbek Girl” by the outstanding graphic artist Evgeny Sidorkin.

The oldest graphic artist of Kazakhstan, Valentin Antoshchenko-Olenev, made several series of linocuts dedicated to Khiva, Bukhara, as well as wonderful sheets, united in the series “Bukhara Folk Fun”. The largest master in the field of Kazakh watercolors, Uke Azhiev, has repeatedly visited Uzbekistan, as evidenced by his sharply individual watercolor sheets dedicated to the ancient cities of the republic.

The artists of Kazakhstan have contributed to the creation of a collective artistic image of Uzbekistan, they have managed to show the traditional themes from new angles, in their own individual interpretation, - said Galina Syrlybaeva.

Head of the Department of Foreign Art of the State Museum of Art named after A. Kasteeva also named the unique works of Uzbek artists. Thus, the collection is the most numerous and representative among the republics of Central Asia. It is distinguished by a wide range of creative personalities and genre diversity. These are portrait and landscape, still life and thematic composition.

The skill of several generations of Uzbek painters is presented in the museum almost in full. These are paintings of different years by A. Volkov, a native of Ferghana, U. Tansykbaev, a Kazakh who became the People’s Artist of the Uzbek SSR, N. Karakhan, who lived in Tashkent from early childhood, Ch. Akhmarov, who moved to Samarkand in 1927 at the age of 15. The baton of the older generation was continued by artists who came to art already in the 1950s-1960s - R. Akhmedov, B. Babaev, V. Burmakin, Yu. Taldykin.

All these unique canvases will soon be released under a single cover in a new illustrated book-album under the working title “Collection of the State Museum of Arts of the Republic of Kazakhstan named after Abylkhan Kasteev” of the series “Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan in the Collections of the World”. As noted, the author of the book is the head of the foreign art department of the museum, Galina Syrlybayeva.

- We are grateful for the invitation to take part in such a large-scale international project - "The cultural heritage of Uzbekistan in the collections of the world." This gave us the opportunity to delve into the study of the heritage of Uzbek artists, to feel the peculiarities of the work of each of them, to trace and analyze the ways of creating this wonderful collection, - said the author of the book-album.

Chairman of the World Society for the Study, Preservation and Popularization of the Cultural Heritage of Uzbekistan Firdavs Abdukhalikov stressed that the volume on the collection of the State Museum of Arts named after. Abylkhan Kasteeva will make a series of books-albums "Masterpieces of Central Asia". These publications will be dedicated to the museum collections of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.

– The World Society, together with the International Institute of Central Asia, is working on a series of books “Masterpieces of Central Asia”, based on the roadmap for the implementation of proposals and initiatives that the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced at the third Consultative Meeting of the Heads of State of Central Asia. Due to the geographical proximity, our countries have many points of contact in their cultural development. As a result of trade and other kinds of contacts, the museums of the countries of Central Asia became the custodians of art objects created on the territory of Uzbekistan. At the same time, in the past, our territories were part of the same state formations. Monuments of such periods, which are now the heritage of the owner states, will also be of interest to our readers, as evidence of the commonality of borders and cultures in the historical past, Firdavs Abdukhalikov commented.