Director of the Russian Musem
Russia
Mr. Gusev was born on April 25, 1945 in Kalinin. In 1963 he graduated from the Kalinin Professional School of Industry. In 1964–1967 he served in the Soviet Army, and in 1974 graduated from the Repin Institute of Art, Sculpture, and Architecture in Leningrad. Mr. Gusev has been employed with the State Russian Museum since January 1978. In June 1998 the General Assembly of the Museum elected him to serve as the Museum's Director. V. A. Gusev has authored many research articles, exhibition catalogs, television and video films about Russian art, museum business and the history of the Russian Museum.
As the head of the Museum, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gusev has been working successfully on transforming every area of museum activities. He has been implementing a broad-scale program of development of the Russian Museum as the largest contemporary center of Russian culture. He has supervised a great amount of research and practical work in the area of adapting the new buildings transferred into the ownership of the Museum by the city, and their transformation into the museum space. These new building sinclude the Marble Palace, the Mikhailovsky (Engineer's) Castle, the Stroganov Palace. The administration of the State Russian Museum not only restores the facades and the interiors of these architectural landmarks, and renovates the historic downtown area of Saint Petersburg, but also helps revive the cultural traditions of Russia's northern capital related to these palaces.
Mr. Gusev is an art expert, Candidate of Art History (1986), Associate Professor of the Department of Russian and Soviet Art at Repin Institute of Art, Sculpture and Architecture, Distinguished Worker of Arts of the Russian Federation (1996), full member (academician) of the Russian Academy of Arts (2001), laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the area of literature and art (2004).
Laureate, Governmental Prize of the Russian Federation for creative and professional achievements in the sphere of culture (2013). Member of the Public Chamber of Saint Petersburg, member of the Council on the Russian Language under the Government of the Russian Federation, member of the Council for Preservation of Historical Heritage under the Government of Saint Petersburg.
Awards:
Medal for Valorous Labor in Celebration of Lenin's Centennial Anniversary (1971);
Distinguished Worker of the Arts of the Russian Federation (1996);
Commendation Letter of the President of the Russian Federation (1998).
