In Ufa the solemn opening ceremony of the exhibition of Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Professor Alexander Genrikhovich Tolstikov was held.

"Joy overwhelms me, today people here are dear to me, with whom I have gone a long way in life, each of them contributed to the formation of me as an artist. I express my great gratitude to the Nesterov Museum - here I grew up, became an artist, and now you have a collection of my paintings. Thanks to Ayrat Teregulov for the support provided and for the fact that this exhibition was held, "Alexander Henrykhovich said.

Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Bashkortostan Shamil Abdrakov came to congratulate the opening of the exhibition and present the Letter of Gratitude on behalf of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Bashkortostan: "This gift is undoubtedly a great contribution to the collection of our museum. Today's exhibition is a landmark event in the cultural life of the republic. I am confident that visitors will receive the most pleasant impressions", - the deputy minister said.

Also attending the event were guests from Moscow: Vitaliy Afiani, adviser to the Director of the Archives of the Russian Academy of Sciences for Science, Natalia Shushanyan, poetess, candidate of sociological sciences.

"The exhibition of Alexander Tolstikov's Contemporaries" - an organic part of his project "Societet of Arts and Sciences", implemented since the 1980s. With its artistic and historical concept, both the exhibition and the project are projected onto the created M.V. Nesterov in the 1930s - 1941 gallery of portraits of outstanding figures of culture and science. This parallel is more than objective, and for the science and art of Russia and Bashkortostan has a high cultural value, "says the art historian, deputy director of the Bashkir State Art Museum. M.V. Nesterova on scientific work Svetlana Ignatenko.

The exhibition "Contemporaries" presents a gift to the Bashkir State Art Museum. M.V. Nesterov. The gift presented by the author in 2017 is timed to the 155th anniversary of the founder of the museum, the great artist, a native of Ufa, Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov. In total, the artist donated 41 works - thirteen portraits of outstanding and famous scientists, artists and art critics, whose names are associated with the high achievements of Russian science and art. The exhibition features portraits of national artists of the USSR, academicians of the Russian Academy of Arts Pyotr Pavlovich Ossovsky, Viktor Ivanovich Ivanov, Alexei Petrovich Tkachev and the People's Artist of Russia, Academician Andrei Andreyevich Tutunov. It is also remarkable that the most important (especially for the Ufimians and the artist himself) is the portrait of the outstanding father of the artist - Heinrich A. Tolstikov, Doctor of Chemical Sciences, Director of the Institute of Chemistry of the Bashkir Branch of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In April 2016, many of these portraits were exhibited in the rooms of the Archive of the Russian Academy of Sciences at Tolstikov's documentary and art exhibition "Science and Art in Persons. Contemporary portraits".