Russia and Britain appear to have embraced tit-for-tat art exhibitions as a new form of diplomacy after the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow announced that it would host a big exhibition of paintings by J.M.W. Turner.

Only months after a diplomatic row almost scuppered the acclaimed From Russia show in London, the Pushkin Museum is to put on display 112 works in a joint project with Tate Britain.

The exhibition is being funded by Alisher Usmanov, a billionaire oligarch with close Kremlin connections who owns 25 per cent of Arsenal Football Club.

Mr Usmanov is understood to have paid about £1.5 million to sponsor the show, underwriting the enormous insurance costs of staging a Turner exhibition abroad. The show will open at the Pushkin museum in November and run for three months.

The Pushkin was one of four institutions that contributed artworks to the From Russia exhibition, which came within days of being cancelled after the Russian State Culture Agency refused to permit the transfer of the 120 paintings to London in a row over protection against possible ownership claims.

Moscow said that it could not accept guarantees from Britain that the art would be kept safe from seizure by the heirs of collectors who owned them before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution when they were expropriated by the Communists.

The exhibition, which had been seen as an encouraging example of cultural co-operation, took on political overtones at a time when diplomatic relations were the chilliest since the Cold War.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, contrasted Britain's welcoming approach to Russian culture with the Kremlin's action, which he said was “illegal, hurts Russians and damages Russia's image abroad”.

The row was resolved only when legislation to prevent such seizures was brought forward to make it effective before the exhibition opened in January. Stephen Deuchar, the head of Tate Britain, said that the Turner exhibition faced no similar disputes.

He told The Times: “Negotiations for this exhibition took place quite independently of the From Russia show, although there may appear to be a symmetry in Russian treasures coming to London and Turner coming to Moscow. Insurance was the big issue. The show is happening because Mr Usmanov agreed to pay for it and I don't think it would have happened without his support.”

The works, which will comprise 40 oils, 70 watercolours and two engravings, are to include a painting of Norham Castle from 1845, one of Turner's most popular works with British audiences.

“It was never publicly exhibited in Turner's lifetime because it would have appeared to the public to be too strange,” Dr Deuchar said. “But for those who claim Turner was one of the founders of modern art, this work is of particular significance.”

Turner, who lived from 1775 to 1851, is among the most revered of English artists and known as “the painter of light” for his bold experiments with colour and form. Many experts regard him as the inspiration for the French Impressionist movement.

He bequeathed much of his work to the nation and most of his paintings are housed at Tate Britain's Clore Wing.

Rising tensions

November 2006 Litvinenko affair, still unresolved

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December 2007 Russia orders closure of British Council offices

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March 25 BP in Moscow recalls 148 employees over visa dispute

Sources: Times archives, agencies

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