Collector Culture of the Russian Avant-Garde

Khardziev’s art collection catalogue

The catalogue of Khardziev’s art collection was published in 2013, and the archive he built can be explored online in the Stedelijk Museum reading room. The Khardziev collection and archive fit wonderfully with the Stedelijk Museum’s collection of works by Malevich, which comprises 23 paintings, 20 drawings, 35 manuscripts, and 18 teaching charts. Together with the 175 works by Malevich included in the Khardzhiev collection–mainly comprised of drawings–the Malevich collection is the largest outside of Russia.

Nikolai Khardzhiev’s legacy research

To encourage research into the legacy of Nikolai Khardzhiev, the Khardzhiev Foundation organizes biennial conferences. This year, the Khardzhiev Foundation has partnered with MOMus, Museum of Modern Art of Thessaloniki, the home of another major private collector of the Russian avant-garde, George Costakis (1913-1990). In the 1960s, Costakis’s art-filled Moscow home had served as Russia’s unofficial museum of modern art. In 1977, Costakis donated half of his collection to the Tretyakov Gallery and moved to Greece. The Greek state acquired the other half of his collection, amounting to 1,275 works, after his death in 1997, and transferred this collection to MOMus.