Museum of Russian Art

Because real estate in her historic south Minneapolis neighborhood has grown so precious, Carol Veldman Rudie ’68 feared that a wrecking ball would demolish the Spanish Colonial Revival Church on Stevens Avenue when its congregation moved out. Instead, in mid-2004 restoration crews went to work behind a sign that read: “Future Home of The Museum of Russian Art.” When it opened in May 2005, Rudie was one of the museum’s early visitors. “We walked into this beautifully restored interior,” she remembered, “and within half an hour I said, ‘I’m going to volunteer here.’”

She knew nothing about Russian art. “What came first was the appeal of their stewardship of this wonderful old building,” she said. In less than a month she was one of four docents leading tours of the museum’s opening exhibit. No one trained her for the job. Inundated with visitors to the new space, the small museum had no time or plan for docent recruitment and education—until Rudie arrived.

“I had a vision for it, so I was made the director of docent education,” she laughed. She’s developed a five-week training program for the now 13 docents. “It emphasizes Russian art history, which 99 percent of the population knows nothing about.”

That’s especially true of 20th century Russian art, in which the museum specializes. After the revolution of 1917, artists in the former Soviet Union were trained and sponsored by the state and isolated from outside influences. Their work was largely unseen in the West until the Soviet bloc dissolved. The Museum of Russian Art is the only museum in North America dedicated solely to Russian art from the late 19th century through the present.

“People look at the paintings and are amazed,” Rudie said. “They say, ‘We thought everything was going to be gray.’ They expect pictures of Lenin and Stalin and the military, and instead they see a plethora of colors and subjects they identify with from their own lives.”

When training docents or leading public tours, Rudie gives a history lesson in the last 150 years of Russian art. “People say, ‘Now I understand what I’m looking at.’ And when they understand, they appreciate.”