The Tretyakov Gallery hosts an exhibition dedicated to the 175th anniversary of one of the largest Russian painters, Vasily Polenov (1844-1927), who possessed universal talent, was an innovator in landscape painting, an outstanding teacher, theater artist, architect, composer, writer and public figure. The exposition introduces viewers to various facets of the master’s work. It includes more than 150 works from 14 Russian museums and private collections. The exposition presents a landscape, portrait, historical painting, paintings of the gospel series, sketches of theatrical scenery and architectural projects of Polenov.
Among the exhibits in the section dedicated to the artists of his circle, was exhibited "Portrait of EM Tatevosyan in a Bedouin bandage" by a student of Polenov Alexander Golovin, provided by a private collector. However, another collector - Sergei Podstanitsky, coming to the exhibition, drew attention to the fact that earlier this painting was in the National Museum of the Chechen Republic in Grozny and was listed in the catalog as "Golovin. Arab. Study. 56 by 46 centimeters."
"Portrait of E. M. Tatevosyan in a Bedouin bandage" was immediately removed from the exhibition, placed in the museum’s storeroom, and the specialists of the Tretyakov Gallery began technical and technological research and archival research to clarify the situation and get all possible documentary evidence.
After the publication by the collector Sergei Podstanitsky of the first information about the possible belonging of the painting to the museum in Grozny, the staff of the Tretyakov Gallery contacted its owner, the last in a series of several, as well as the All-Russian Art and Scientific Restoration Center named after I.E. Grabar, whose specialists in 1961 conducted an on-site restoration of the painting.
The Tretyakov Gallery asked the leadership and specialists of the National Museum of the Chechen Republic to take part in the work of establishing the truth. It turned out that since all the archives of the museum were burned during the hostilities, there is no accounting documentation for this work. In the course of research using modern technical means on the back of the canvas and on the stretcher, it was not possible to find the inventory numbers of the National Museum of the Chechen Republic. However, given the publication of this work in 1987 as belonging to the museum in Grozny, as well as eyewitness accounts referred to in the correspondence by the directorate of the National Museum of the Chechen Republic, it turned out that the painting still belongs to the collection of the Grozny museum. The present owner of the painting confirmed his desire to hand over the painting to the National Museum of the Chechen Republic, and already at the end of October in the Tretyakov Gallery "Portrait of EM Tatevosyan in a Bedouin Bandage" was broadcast to the Director General of the National Museum of the Chechen Republic Vakha Astalov in the presence of the Minister of Culture of Chechnya Khozh -Baudi Daaev.
Along with the painting, representatives of the Tretyakov Gallery management handed over a detailed passport for the preservation of the work and materials of the complex of technical and technological studies prepared by the museum’s specialists, researchers and restorers. These works were carried out in the Tretyakov Gallery on October 18, 2019 in order to identify technological features and the state of conservation of the canvas.
