Nukus Museum of Art

Savitsky (Karakalpak: I.V.Savitskiy atındaǵı Qaraqalpaqstan mámleketlik kórkem-óner múzeyi, Uzbek: I.V.Savitskiy nomidagi Qoraqalpogʻiston davlat sanʼat muzeyi, Russian: Государственный музей искусств Республики Каракалпакстан имени И. В. Савицкого, romanized: Gosudarstvennyj muzej iskusstv Respubliki Karakalpakstan imeni I. V. Savitskogo),[1] is located in Nukus, Karakalpakstan[2] and is home to the world's second largest collection of Russian avant-garde artworks, as well as galleries of antiquities and Karakalpak folk art.

[11] The Russian painter, archeologist, and collector, Igor Savitsky, first visited Karakalpakstan in 1950 to participate in the Khorezm Archeological & Ethnographic Expedition.

[12] He later moved to Nukus, Karakalpakstan’s capital, and assembled an extensive collection of Karakalpak jewellery, carpets, coins, clothing, and other artefacts.

It was Savitsky who amassed the museum's extraordinary avant-garde art collection, risking his own life and liberty to acquire banned artworks.

Her essays have featured in five exhibition catalogues, including the best selling Avangard, ostanovlennyi na begu (Avant-Garde Stopped on the Run).

[14] Babanazarova was controversially fired from the museum in 2015[15] but resolved differences with the Art & Culture Development Foundation and was on the interview panel to appoint Tigran Mkrtychev to the post of director in 2019.

[16] It is hoped Mkrtychev will take up his position at the Nukus Museum of Art after travel restrictions resulting from the COVID crisis are removed.

Set up initially in Tashkent[17] as an informal group during the early 1990s and later registered in Karakalpakstan as a non-governmental organization (NGO) in 2001,[18] the Friends of Nukus Museum (FoNM) is a small, but dedicated international network of advocates and supporters.