One of the most famous artists of the region was Mikhail Stepanovich Znamensky. A native of Kurgan, he received a spiritual education, and was a drawing teacher in Tobolsk. In addition, Mikhail Stepanovich stood at the origins of the Tobolsk bone-cutting industry.
The collection of art collections dates back to the end of the XIX century. In Tobolsk, Nikolai Luchik Skalozubov was engaged in this, in Tyumen – Ivan Yakovlevich Slovtsov and Nikolai Marmetyanovich Chukmaldin.
In 1918, M.I. Avilov, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, arrived in Tyumen with the mandate of the Department of the People's Commissariat of Education. Mikhail Ivanovich opened an art studio in the drawing class of a real school. The telegraphists Veniamin Barashev and Ivan Krotov were the first to come to the specified address with their drawings. Then they were joined by Alexander Mitinsky, Pavel Rossomakhin, Vasily Boyarintsev, Arkady Kitov, Nikolai Krotov, Vsevolod Mitinsky. Avilov set the knowledge not only about the basics of fine art, but also talked about the methods of artists. Classes were interesting, but after six months they stopped. Tyumen was occupied by whites. Avilov went for Irkutsk.
The work of the art studio was resumed only in 1920. In the same year, the artist Panteleimon Petrovich Chukomin opened the Museum of Fine Arts in Tobolsk. On July 3, 1928, the Tobolsk Museum merged with the Museum of Fine Arts.
The Tyumen art studio was headed by famous people in different years, for example I.I. Oveshkov and K.P. Trofimov. In February 1921, the first studio exhibition was held in Tyumen. Landscapes, still lifes, and the first trial copies of famous paintings were presented. On December 12, 1934, the first joint art exhibition of the masters of Tyumen and Tobolsk took place. Twelve participants presented 269 works. This exhibition made Siberian artists famous. Many of them were invited to train in Moscow and Leningrad.
Until 1944, there was no branch of the Union of Artists in Tyumen, since Tyumen and Tobolsk were part of the Omsk region. In September 1944, its own Tyumen branch of the Union of Artists appeared.