Folk Toys

In the late 1950ies, George Costakis acquired a unique collection of folk toys from the heirs of the actor and collector Nikolai Tsereteli (d. 1942). Russian toys, along with the icons, were in Costakis’ eyes a true source of avant-garde forms. By the 1970s, his collection numbered almost two and a half hundred wonderful examples of folk art made of clay, wood, papier-mâché, bone and other materials. There were toys originating from the main areas of this craft of the 19th - early 20th centuries (Moscow region, Nizhny Novgorod province and the Russian North). In other words, Costakis owned a collection of toys that could constitute a separate, outstanding museum.

Leaving the country, George Costakis left almost the entire collection as a gift to the state: for a long time it was kept in the warehouses of the USSR Ministry of Culture and only in 1992 it was transferred to the Tsaritsyno Museum. In 1933, Nikolai Tsereteli, based on his acquisitions, published a book: "Russian Folk Toy", where he argued that a toy is not a trifle, but a kind of a cultural code of a nation. He prophesied a long, happy life for his collection for the sake of the future generations that will create new forms and meanings. Nikolai Tsereteli died in poverty and obscurity, but George Costakis manged to saved his life's work.