On 17 June, an exhibition of the illustrations from the new edition of the Red Book of Russia opened in the “Nature of Usmanskii Pinewood” museum of the VSU Venevitinovo Biocentre. The exhibition includes works by leading Russian animal artists Evgeny Koblik, Alexey Mosalov, David Khaidarov, Ilya Murashev, and Andrey Tomilenko.
The exhibition was opened by Fedor Shkil (graduate of the Faculty of Biology and Soil Science of VSU), senior researcher at the Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sergey Sobolev, head of the “Nature of Usmanskii Pinewood” museum, and Alexei Lopatin, director of the Venevitinovo Biocenter.
VSU students who are having field practices and internships at the Venevitinovo Biocentre, employees of the Voronezh State University, and visitors of the biocentre attended the exhibition.
The visitors of the exhibition learned about the importance of the Red Books and specific details of how the modern edition of the Red Book of Russia was prepared, and most importantly, they discovered the artistic value of the Red Book illustrations and their significance for the preservation of Russia’s natural heritage.
“The Red Book is a unique phenomenon. It has legal, scientific, and educational importance at the same time for the preservation of rare species and nature, and it also has an aesthetic artistic value due to the fact that most illustrations were made by outstanding animal artists. Even for a museum in a capital city, it would be a great honour to exhibit these works,” said Sergey Sobolev.
