The Exhibition Hall of the Uzbek Academy of Arts is hosted in a splendid 1970’s building in the center of Tashkent, near the History Museum and the Navoi Opera. It displays recent work from Uzbek artists: mostly paintings with a bit of sculpture and craftwork thrown in.
Well worth a visit if art is your thing, to complement the exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Uzbekistan and the Fine Arts Museum.
Just behind the Academy of Arts stands the Kamollidin Behzod Miniature Gallery.
Kamollidin Behzod Miniature Gallery
Kamal ud-din Behzad (Kamollidin Behzod in Uzbek) was one of the great masters of Persian miniature painting. He lived in Herat in the later 15th century, a golden age for that city. As the court painter, he came in touch with many of the greats of the Timurid era, like for instance Jami and Navoi, and painted them.
You can learn more about Behzad’s art by visiting this gallery. Your learning will be by looking, though, and reading useful art history essays online: there is no explanation or guide available.
Almost all (or even all?) works attributed to Behzad here are copies: the originals are in far-flung locations like Paris, London, Oxford, Dublin, Houston, Harvard, Tehran (Golestan Palace and Contemporary Art Museum), Cairo, Baltimore, Boston, Washington, New York and Saint-Petersburg.
However, an original Behzad painting of the emperor Babur can be seen at the Tashkent History Museum around the corner.
There are also some works of modern Uzbek miniaturists of considerable skill.
