Iosif Kobzon gave the All-Russian Exhibition of Folk Crafts works from his collection

On the eve of the All-Russian exhibition of folk art crafts "Living Source", the press center of the Moscow Komsomolets hosted a press conference "Preservation and Development of Folk Art Crafts at the Present Stage", where the People's Artist of Russia and the First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Culture, Joseph Kobzon, announced that passes to the exhibition its collection of samples of Russian crafts.

"I've toured the USSR a lot, and there's no corner in which I have not been. This is our vast territory, our culture, "said the artist. - I did not have a goal to create a collection, then to show it. This is my 46-year-old husband. And I only bring gifts to please my family and friends.

Recently, Gennady Alexandrovich (a member of the Government Commission on State Cultural Policy, chairman of the board of the association "NHP" - "MK") addressed me with a request for help. Of course, I did not refuse. However, I was against the name "folk crafts", because it is about creativity, art. When we are imbued with culture, seeing the products of a region at the exhibition, this causes us admiration. After all, this is at least unusual.

I remember that in the USSR artists and masters who were engaged in folk crafts were the hardest living. They imitated each other, and from this their art lost. Everything should be different. This is national creativity, this is the pride of Russian art. I believe that much needs to be done to glorify the national culture of crafts. Take the time - visit the exhibition, and you will be pleasantly surprised and thank me for giving you such advice. "

Joseph Davydovich remembered his last trip to the Donbass, where the masters started to make objects of decorative and applied art from fragments of bombs and improvised materials.

The exhibition will feature more than 1000 works by the most experienced artists and artists from all over Russia. There will also be the work of students from specialized colleges.