About
31st May-7th June 2013
This June Russian Art Week returns for what promises to be another record breaking event in London. Auctions of rare and valuable Russian paintings, icons, Fabergé and works of art will be held at the four major auction houses. Russianartweek.co.uk will work in parallel with Bonhams, Christie's, MacDougall's and Sotheby's to provide a comprehensive listing of the upcoming sales and events as well as a directory of Russian auction houses, galleries, dealers and specialist institutions.
Russian Art Week was launched in November 2012 by Russian Art and Culture alongside participating auction houses and galleries. It has now become a major occasion in the art world calendar. Although the auction houses have traditionally held bi-annual sales, in June and November of Russian art, this project successfully brought together commercial and academic audiences to create a new platform for cultural exchange and to encourage debate. Our comprehensive guide to the event lists sales details alongside other cultural events in the capital and is available both as a free pdf to download online plus printed copies are distributed at participating venues.
This year's highlights include works by some of the most highly sought after artists at auction including Nicholas Roerich, Ivan Shishkin and Nikolai Fechin. Ivan Aivazovsky's Fishermen on a moonlit coast, Sorrento looks set to be a standout lot for Christie's whilst Sotheby's sales will feature stunning examples of Russian avant-garde painting by David Burliuk and Natalia Goncharova. Highlights at MacDougall's include Mikhail Nesterov's, Wayfarers. Beyond the Volga, which could fetch in excess of £1,000,000, and a vivid landscape by Konstantin Korovin. Works by Fabergé are also present in many of the sales with Bonhams offering a particularly rare jewelled silver gilt and enamel cigarette case with Imperial provenance. All of these works and more will be on display throughout the week at the sale locations. A more detailed list of highlights can be found on the Russian Art Week website (www.russianartweek.co.uk).
Alongside the sales, several galleries in London are hosting exhibitions of Russian art. These include Mayfair's new St Petersburg Gallery, which will unveil a rare display of Russian ballet and theatre designs from the golden age of the Ballet Russes, and the nearby Erarta Gallery, which will be showcasing works by contemporary Russian artist Vyacheslav Mikhailov.
A number of other events including concerts, talks and curator led exhibition tours, such as to the V&A's Treasures of the Royal Courts: Tudors, Stuarts and Russian Tsars and Houghton Revisited, featuring paintings from the Walpole collection now in the Hermitage Museum, are also scheduled to take place.
For a full listing of events and to download a free guide to this event visit our website.
