Art in the cultural life of the university

In the paper, the authors reveal the importance of art for students’ culture formation in the South Ural State University, the largest in the region. They conducted a comprehensive study of formation and development of the Art Museum of SUSU, in particular, its structural subdivision - the exhibition Hall of Arts. To this end, scientists have applied art science and art history, historical, cultural and sociological methods of analysis. The authors presented the typology of the directions of the Art Museum activity. They conducted the classification of expositions, based on the analysis of artworks, showed the influence of art exhibitions on the formation of the main aspects of the cultural identity of students. The analysis of the most significant Hall of Arts’ expositions from the collections of leading Art galleries, from painters’workshopswas also carriedout. Researchers haveprovedthat exhibition, collection, research activities in the field of art form and maintain in public consciousness the image of the university as the centre of high world and national cultural traditions.