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Hillwood Museum & Gardens Acquires
The Edward Kasinec Library of Russian and East European Art Research
Materials
Washington, D.C. - Hillwood Museum & Gardens is pleased to announce
the acquisition of a unique collection of more than 2,300 items from
the personal library of Edward Kasinec, presently chief of the Slavic
and Baltic division at the New York Public Library. Internationally
renowned as one of the foremost Slavic bibliographers and librarians
of his generation, Kasinec is a curator and prolific author who has
assembled a personal collection of nearly 4,000 volumes during the
course of his thirty-year career. The art historical and cultural
portion of his collection, which reflects his personal interest in
East Slavic culture, has come to Hillwood through a combination gift
and sale. "In making this decision, I was motivated by a number
of considerations, not the least of which has been my long-standing
relationships with Hillwood and my admiration for its staff,"
Kasinec said. "This collection greatly expands the scope of our
research capabilities. Indeed, now it makes Hillwood's Library a necessary
stop for serious scholars in the field of Russian art and culture,"
said Frederick J. Fisher, Hillwood's executive director.
Kasinec's collection deepens Hillwood's current holdings on imperial
Russian culture by broadening its scope. The newly acquired collection
is rich in descriptions of people and places in imperial Russia, photography,
graphic arts and advertisements from late imperial culture, monies
of the empire, and textiles. The collection also expands Hillwood's
current scope by adding holdings in the areas of Eastern European
avant-garde art, Soviet decorative arts, the Eastern Orthodox Church,
the art and culture of Slavic books, and relationships between Russia
and world cultures in general. "The collection contains volumes
which were often printed in small editions and only available for
purchase at the institutions that produced them. Catalogues of provincial
Russian museum collections, pamphlets, and exhibition catalogs which
are nearly impossible to obtain today are included in the acquisition,"
noted Kristen A. Regina, Hillwood's
librarian.
Hillwood is in the early stages of cataloguing and processing the
Kasinec collection, with the goal of making it fully accessible to
the public by the end of 2005. In the meantime, scholars are welcome
to periodically check the catalog at www.dcdata.com/hillwood for materials
that have become available for use.
Hillwood Museum & Gardens was the Washington, D.C., residence
of cereal heiress and art collector Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973)
from 1955 to 1973. Mrs. Post assembled the most comprehensive collection
of Russian imperial art outside of Russia and a world-renowned collection
of eighteenth-century French decorative arts. Among the notable items
are imperial Fabergé eggs, chalices, icons, and liturgical
vestments from imperial Russia, Beauvais tapestries, and Sèvres
porcelain. Hillwood's estate includes twenty-five acres, twelve of
which are formal gardens, including a Japanese-style garden and a
French parterre. Hillwood opened to the public in 1977.
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Kristen
A. Regina
Librarian
202.243.3934 |
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