The Mstyora Foundation has more than 1,300 exhibits. The collection of the All-Russian Decorative Art Museum includes works by the founders of the Mstyora style, representatives of all generations of masters and contemporary artists. Mstyora, just as Palekh and Kholui, was one of the icon painting centers before the Revolution. The art of lacquer miniatures has incorporated the traditions of local icon painting and lubok.


Mstyora artists began working on lacquer miniatures at the beginning of the 1930s. In our collection there is a significant group of works, reflecting the creative search of former icon painters, their attempts to find use for their skills in the new social conditions under the ban on the practice of iconography. This section includes works by the founders of the Mstyora style – N.P.Klykov ("Saddling a Horse", "Close to the City of Slavyansk", "Tamara and the Demon", "The King of the Sea and Vasilisa the Beautiful", "Taras Bulba" and others), A.F.Kotyagin ("The Parable of Two Men", "The Palace of Congresses"), I.N.Morozov ("Return of runaway peasants to the monastery", "Minin's appeal to Nizhniy Novgorod citizens"), A.I.Bryagin ("Deer hunting", "Alexander Nevskiy gathers his troops to fight against German dogs-knights"), I.A.Serebryakov, I.A.Fomichev. Special attention should be paid to the works of E.V. Yurin, the founder of the Mstyor ornamental trend.

The Museum collection includes works by leading masters of the following generations of Mstyora artists - N.I.Shishakov, L.A.Fomichev, P.I.Sosin, V.P.Fokeeva, V.Moshkovich, V.N.Molodkin, V.F.Nekosova, A.K.Yakimicheva.

A small but interesting sub-section of the collection presents examples of Mstyora painting on furniture; this trend developed in the two centers of lacquer miniatures - in Mstyora and Palekh.

The museum's collection also includes the best works of the young generation of lacquer miniature masters D.V. Molodkin, N.V. Molodkin, and A.G. Grachev.