Sales of Russian art are increasingly profitable at Christie's and Sotheby's[déc. 04]

The auctions of Russian art at Sotheby´s and Christie´s in London on Tuesday and Wednesday evening were a resounding success.

On 30 November 2004, Christie´s sale of "Important Russian Pictures" generated GBP 9,268,706. Among the 340 lots sold, some of the paintings went under the hammer at over GBP 1 million. The star lot, a painting by Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovsky, entitled "St. Isaac´s on a frosty day", went for GBP 1,125,250. This was the first work of 19th century Russian art to exceed the GBP 1 million mark. The same evening another work reached a similar figure: "Study of a Family Portrait" by Il´ia Efimovich Repin fetched GBP 1,013,250 compared to an estimation of GBP 450,000. According to Artprice data, prices of Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovsky's works have multiplied fivefold since 1997. Almost 90% of some thirty lots of his works put up for auction annually find buyers. Il'ia Efimovich Repin's price index has risen 272% in seven years.

The following day, Russian collectors were equally active at Sotheby's. Although 57% of the 470 lots were bought in, the finest works found buyers easily. By the end of the day, Sotheby's had generated almost as much as its rival: GBP 9,252,840. Despite the setting of three new record prices (for Pyotr Petrovich Vereschagin, Boris Dmitrievich Grigoriev, Vasily Ivanovich Shukhaev) none of the paintings for sale at Sotheby's exceeded the GBP 1 million mark.
Characterised as an "emerging" market several years ago, the market for Russian art - with results like this - is beginning to look much more like a mature market with a broad range of art and artists and a community of well-informed collectors and connoisseurs.

            Artprice Press Agency

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