Irina Antonova

Irina Antonova

Irina Aleksandrovna Antonova (Russian: Ирина Александровна Антонова) (born 20 March 1922, Moscow) has been Director of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow since 1961, making her the oldest director of a major art museum in the world. Among her many awards and decorations are the State Prize of the Russian Federation and the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.

Antonova studied under Boris Vipper at the Moscow University, graduating in 1945. Later that year she joined the staff of the Pushkin Museum, where she has worked ever since. In February 1961 Nikita Khrushchev put her in charge of the museum.

Antonova witnessed as the entire collection of the Dresden Gallery arrived to the museum from Germany in 1945 and was removed from it ten years later. She opposed the return of the collection to Germany, claiming it was a just compensation for the damage inflicted on Russia's cultural heritage by the German invaders. The museum still holds Priam's Treasure, looted by the Red Army after the Battle of Berlin.

Antonova's interests revolve around Impressionist and Modern art. In 1948, the Pushkin Museum acquired considerable holdings of these works from the nationalized collections of Sergei Shchukin and Ivan Morozov. Antonova was also instrumental in establishing Svyatoslav Richter's December nights, an international music festival that has been held in the museum since 1981.

Honours and awards

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on the Russian Wikipedia.

• Order of Merit for the Fatherland:
  • 1st class (December 6, 2007) - for outstanding contribution to the development of museums, preservation and promotion of national and world heritage
  • 2nd class (20 March 2002) - for outstanding contribution to the development of national culture
  • 3rd class (17 March 1997) - for services to the state and the great personal contribution to the preservation of national cultural heritage of Russia
• Order of the October Revolution
• Order of the Red Banner of Labour
• Honoured Artist of Russian Federation
• State Prize of the Russian Federation (1995)
• Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters (France)
• Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (7 December 2000)
• Public Prize "Treasury of the Motherland"

References

• (Russian) "Irina Antonova Celebrates Her 85th Birthday"
• (Russian) Interview in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta