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Russian Buyers Go Full Out at Sotheby's Evening Auction

by Zoe Strimpel
Tue, 27 Nov 2007 at 9:11 PM
updated Tue, 27 Nov 2007 at 9:23 PM

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Russian art continued its market high last night with Sotheby's inaugural evening sale in the area, which made a record $52,137,295.

Leading the pack was the avant-garde painter Natalia Goncharova's "Bluebells," from 1909, which sold for $6,287,576, just above the reserve price. Perhaps the most spectacular sale was of Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich's canvas, "Himself Came," which went for $3,627,348 — over 17 times its low estimate. And Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky's "From the Everyday Life of the Russian Boyar" (1868) — after three triptych icons — went for $4,205,576, over four times its low estimate.

A good way to measure the heat of an art market is the atmosphere in the bidding room. Last night's was deadly focused — the central room was crammed and an overflow chamber with a plasma screen was also full. Asked his impressions of last night's sale, the auctioneer and Chairman of Sotheby's Russia and Deputy Chairman of Sotheby's Europe, Lord Poltimore, said: "My impression is that the Russian art market is still very buoyant and extremely strong. It is getting more sophisticated all the time — catalogue notes are getting stronger and the research is now fantastic. We now have the opportunity of finding out who are great experts in certain fields, which is extremely useful."

Lord Poltimore said that 91% of the bidders and would-be bidders in the room last night were Russian. Is he concerned about the fact that the market is so insular and so driven by a sudden influx of Russian cash? "It is a very nationalistic market," he agreed. "But I don't see this as a problem, necessarily.

"The West is not totally aware of these artists. What's driving it forward is not just the tide of money but also the wonderful passion for
collecting — both factors mean Russian buyers are going full out. Prices are high and at the moment, Westerners are outbid." He notes the change over the past 10 years. In the early '90s, Lord Poltimore said, you could get the very top Russian names for $40,000.

The sale last night was driven by demand for 18th and 19th century works, and Lord Poltimore feels the contemporary Russian art market has still to arrive at its heyday, calling it highly undervalued. "There's lots of potential there," he said. He explained that a lot of young Russians in Europe are beginning to look at the contemporary art and desire it because it's not what their parents had.

Will the bubble burst? "I'm not concerned," says Lord Poltimore. "I think there's a depth to the Russian economy and the wealth is here to stay for some time. My only concern is about finding good things to sell in the future. But we're not at the level of concern there that, say, other European markets, such as Old Masters and Impressionists, have reached."

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