The formation of the National Graphic Art Collection at the National Museum of Art of Moldova began in 1945. As a result of acquisitions and donations, it currently comprises over 11,000 works created by professional artists who lived in Moldova, studying both domestically and abroad. The chronological range of the collection spans from 1892 to 2010. Characterized by high artistic craftsmanship and thematic, genre, and technical diversity, these works allow us to trace the general trends in the development of national graphic art and scenography, as well as the stylistic particularities of graphic artists and scenographers.
Among the landmark works of the collection are those created in drawing, watercolor, and pastel by artists from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including August Baillayre, Lidia Arionesco-Baillayre, Eugenia Maleșevschi, Nicolae Gumalic, Vladimir Okușko, Rostislav Okușko, Pavel Piskariov, and others. Exhibitors at the "Official Salons," organized by the Society of Fine Arts in Chișinău and Bucharest, their work was part of the European artistic movement of that period. The artistic individuality of Bessarabian artists Gheorghe Ceglacoff, Șneer Kogan, Victor Ivanov, and Grigorie Fiurer primarily developed within the realm of engraving.
The National Graphic Art Collection includes a significant number of prints: metal engravings, linocuts, woodcuts, lithographs. Artists who embraced this graphic genre, such as Ilie Bogdesco, Leonid Grigorașenco, Emil Childescu, Aurel David, Alina Cocieru, Vasile Cojocaru, Alexei Colâbneac, Victor Koreakin, Victor Kovali, Eugeniu Merega, Ion Taburța, Stepan Tuhari, and Petru Ţurcan, are represented in the museum’s collection through series of works.
The work of cinema artists is present in the collection through set sketches for films edited at the "Moldova-Film" studio, sketches made by artists Anton Mater, Vasili Covriga, and Filimon Hămuraru. The authors of set sketches for the feature films Lullaby, Wait for Us at Dawn, The Last Outlaw, Ten Winters for One Summer, Red Meadows, Sergei Lazo, and Risk include artists Aurelia Roman and Stanislav Bulgakov.
The scenography collection includes works created by professional painters from 1921 to 2006, which were staged in theaters across Moldova: set sketches, costumes, and theatrical programs for dramatic, opera, ballet, and variety performances.
Set sketches and costumes from the 1920s-1932 were donated by August Baillayre – 28 works that reflect trends characteristic of the art of Russia and Western Europe during this period. It was the time of the "Arlechiniad": a period of creative fantasies and original interpretations, which explains the diversity of styles: Romanticism, Impressionism, Cubism, Expressionism. The MNAM collection also includes works by artists E. Ivanovskaia, N. Bragalia, M. Starcevskaia, Victor Evers, and Natalia Danilcenco.
