Fates of Icons in the Soviet Union. 1920s–1930s

The icon is the main character of this book - the center of attraction for the actions of the authorities, museum workers, traders, and buyers. One of the intriguing paradoxes of history is that the creators of the 'non-market' Soviet economy made a significant contribution to the development of the global market for icons. At the turn of the 1920s and 1930s, their efforts resulted in the creation of a colossal export icon fund, a grand advertising campaign was conducted - the first Soviet foreign icon exhibition, which presented to the world a new antique product - icons from the USSR in all their splendor, connections were established with Western antiquarians, and sales of icon collections abroad were organized. The search for currency for industrialization turned into the development of global interest in the icon. The book tells the history of museums and people (to some of whom fate has been kind, to others - ruthless), about how the grand icon collection of the State Museum Fund was created and liquidated, who and how selected icons for export, how many icons Russian museums gave for sale, whether the sold icons were fakes, as well as what fate awaited the icons after their sale. The book is based on a vast amount of material collected by the author in the archives of Russia, Europe, and the USA. Elena Osokina is a Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, and laureate of the Makariy Prize and the 'Enlightener' Prize.