It’s no secret that since March 2022, auction houses around the world stopped holding Russian auctions. At the same time, buyers and sellers from Russia were deprived of the opportunity to participate in world auctions. Despite this, Russian artworks are still available and sold on the world art market, and auctions by Russian auction houses are breaking unmatched records.
But how is this possible? Everything is quite simple – the concept of separation of art from the creator and the connection of fantasy.
International auctions now offer works of Russian art under a variety of names, from “old masters” to “expressionism: Germany, Austria and beyond”.
So, which jobs have come under the hammer and for how much? Today we have a special collection.
On June 23, the sale of the collection of the great fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy took place in Paris. More than 1,200 works of art were displayed at Christie’s, including the Girandoles of Paul I, made by French sculptor and bronze caster Pierre-Philippe Tomire and sold with a hammer for 4.9 million euros. They were in the Mikhailovsky Fortress of Paul I, just 40 days before Paul’s assassination in 1801. Shortly after this event, all art treasures were removed from the residence and its front rooms were adapted to various departmental institutions and distributed as residential apartments. And, as Christie’s experts assure, such luxurious girandols could be ordered only for the interiors of the Mikhailovsky Castle. And either they were never handed over to the emperor from Paris, or the palace property was sold at auction after the coup.
The works of the famous artist Marc Chagall were sold in two stages. The first auction was held in London, where 20 paintings were taken under the hammer, the most expensive of which was the composition “The Artist in Tricolor and a Couple in Love” (139.2 million rubles), the total cost of all works is £ 10 million. In early December, the second part of the collection was already up for auction in Hong Kong. The painting “Flight of the Artist”, which sold for 208.8 million rubles, was the biggest winner. A total of 40 paintings were sold for about 1.497 billion rubles.
Chaim Soutine’s painting “The woman in red on a blue background” sold for 156.6 million rubles at Bonhams’ November auction. There is a legend that Amedeo Modigliai and Paulette Jourdain posed for Soutine. Many similarities were found between Modigliani’s painting he painted shortly before his death in 1922. External features, hand position and posture led many critics to this conclusion.
“The Wrath of the Seas” was part of a private German collection for many years. In 2007, after a pre-production exhibition in Moscow, the work sold for more than 43.5 million rubles at Sotheby’s Russia auction. On December 7, 2022, the painting was put up for auction again and sold for 147.9 million rubles. Unfortunately, Aivazovsky could not break the record “American ship on the rocks of Gibraltar” (208.8 million rubles).
Sotheby’s has dedicated a series of auctions to the collection held in the Lambert Hotel, one of Paris’ most famous private mansions. Nearly 1,300 arts and crafts and jewelry were put up for auction, totaling 5.90 billion rubles. One of the loudest lots announced long before the auction was a silver bowl from the Oryol service. In the early 1770s, by Jacques Retier and his son, II. It was built by Catherine. After that, it was presented, along with the serving bowl, to Count Grigory Orlov, the Empress’ favorite. Catherine purchased the service from the count’s heirs after her death. It remained part of the imperial collection until the 1920s, when the Soviet government began selling it piecemeal. In the 1930s, the safe fell into the hands of Berlin collectors.
In mid-December one of the most successful auctions in the history of the portal artinvestment.ru took place. The highest batch was Vasily Perov’s work “Hunting the bear in winter” from a private collection, which was sold for 76.7 million rubles. The canvas, whose price has increased sixfold in the last 13 years (in December 2009, at the Russian auction at Christie’s, the lot went to 13.6 million rubles), set a new record for the artist’s work.
Among the most expensive lots at the Litfond online auction for 2022 are three works by Nikolai Feshin, which went on sale in March. As a result, the most expensive painting was made under the name “Egyptian Dance”, which was sold in 1932 at Russian auctions for a record price of 38 million rubles.
The “Club of Graphic Lovers” auction house managed to boast last year the painting “Portrait of the Most Peaceful Princess Anna Ivanovna Lopukhina”, created by Karl Bryulov in 1833. The party went under the hammer for 7 million rubles. Before that, the artist could boast of the watercolor “Portrait of Giovannina Paccini”, which sold for €257,000 at Christie’s in 2009.
Bonhams held a Paris auction in November with the vague title “Rebel Spirit”. About 70 works by Soviet misfit artists were offered to collectors. The top winner was Oscar Rabin’s 1957 painting “Bouquet in a landscape in Lyanozovo”. Sold for €60,000 as part of the estimate (€50,000 – €70,000).
Source: People Talk
Errol Villanueva is an author and lifestyle journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a passion for exploring the latest trends in fashion, food, travel, and wellness, Errol’s articles are a must-read for anyone interested in living a stylish and fulfilling life.
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