Cooperation between the USSR and China in the training of specialists in the field of Museum Studies in the 1950s (on the example of training Xu Zhipin at the Repin Institute in Leningrad)

Abstract

The analysis of archival materials about the organization of training the famous specialist of Chinese museology Xu Zhipin in Leningrad is presented in the paper. Xu Zhipin completed a two-year internship program in the field of Museum Studies at the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I. E. Repin in 1958 to the 1960-ies. During this period, there was no special training for museum specialists in the Soviet Union, but there were special museum courses at universities including the Repin Institute. At the Repin Institute, the Faculty of Theory and History of Art was opened in 1937 and training specialists for work in art museums was named as one of the most important goals when the faculty was established. As a result, the Repin Institute had professors who could provide training for specialists in museums of the People’s Republic of China. A special internship program was developed for Xu Jhipin. During the internship, Xu Jhipin received the fundamental skills for a future career in China. The internship materials presented in the article make it possible to understand the components of training specialists for work in art museums and the specifics of the organizational process of contacts and interaction between universities and museums of the Soviet Union. The materials show the importance of the Soviet school of Museum Studies in the development of museum space in China in the second half of the twentieth century.