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Honorary president of Russia's Pushkin Museum Irina Antonova passed away

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Honorary president of Russia's Pushkin Museum Irina Antonova passed away


01.12.2020

Photo credit: Vadim Schultz / tvkultura.ru

The honorary president of the State Museum of Fine Arts (Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts) Irina Antonova died at the age of 98, RIA Novosti reports. Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed deep condolences to the family and friends of Irina Antonova.

She devoted her whole life to the Pushkin Museum, where she worked for over 70 years. Irina Antonova has headed one of the country's leading museums for more than 50 years and made it a legend.

Irina Antonova was born on March 20, 1922 in Moscow. In 1940, she entered the Institute of Philosophy, Literature and Art. With the beginning of World War II, she graduated from nursing courses and from the spring of 1942 worked in a hospital on Krasnaya Presnya.

She came to the Pushkin Museum in 1945, after graduating from the Lomonosov Moscow State University. In 1961, she took the post of director of one of the largest and most authoritative museums in Russia. In 2013, Irina Antonova became the honorary president of the museum.

Largely thanks to Antonova, large international exhibitions "Moscow - Paris", "Moscow - Berlin", "Russia - Italy", expositions of works by Modigliani, Turner, Picasso were organized. Music lovers thanked Irina Aleksandrovna for December Evenings, a festival that kept the memory of her friend, the great pianist Svyatoslav Richter.

She is the author of over 100 publications. For many years she was engaged in teaching activities at various universities, lecturing on the fine arts.

Irina Antonova is a laureate of the State Prize. She was awarded orders of the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. Her services were also noted by the governments of other countries. She was awarded the French Order of the Legion of Honor, Italian Order of Service to the Italian Republic. For her contribution to the development of cultural cooperation between Japan and Russia, Antonova was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun (gold and silver star).

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