Review - Morozov: The Story of a Family and a Lost Collection

Morozov: The Story of a Family and a Lost Collection

I received a digital copy of this book for free via NetGalley for an honest review.

This is a generally quite interesting account of one of the more famous Russian art collections and the family that founded it. The author is a Russian art historian, and while the translation is good, the text in many ways remains clearly intended for a Russian audience. I don't mind this, but some readers may find it occasionally odd in style or content. Although the book is at some level presented as a biography specifically of Ivan Abramovich Morozov, it's in many ways an overview of art collecting in late 19th/early 20th century Russia (mainly Moscow) with an emphasis on the Morozov family as a whole.

As an accompaniment to an exhibition, it would undoubtedly be fascinating. Unfortunately, without most of the paintings being featured in the book's illustrations, I don't recognize many of them by title alone. A significant portion of the book is a fairly detailed account of what was purchased and when, presumably reconstructed from the apparently very meticulous record of receipts left by Ivan Morozov, and I'm not really enough of an art aficionado to fully appreciate this.

Nevertheless, it's a really interesting look at the changing fortunes of a family of Old Believer peasants turned giants of the textile industry, and how they came to make a permanent mark on the Russian art world through their activity as collectors. While the collection was nationalized after the Revolution and later dispersed, the book very strongly demonstrates its overall importance.

The notes and bibliography are extensive, and I think it would be of interest to many people who enjoy art history regardless of whether they are primarily interested in Russian or Western European artists.

I do wish the cover design hadn't gone for pseudo-Cyrillic, though.

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