Sotheby's to Offer Russian Works of Art

The London-based central office of Sotheby's on New Bond street will be selling Russian works of art May 21 once again.

About 200 lots, i.e. paintings by famous 18-th century, 19-th century and early 20-th century Russian artists from private Western collections, will be offered.

Art experts believe that Russian paintings enjoy unprecedented popularity this year. Paintings, which can become a befitting addition to any museum or private collection, are now being put on sale. Collectors are highly likely to wrangle over such rare masterpieces as Konstantin Korovin's "Lady In An Apple-Tree Garden". According to artists, this painting depicts the wife of Korovin, completely unravels his artistic talents, experts say.

Robert Falok's "The Portrait Of A Hindu Boy" will also cause quite a stir during this auction. The artist's widow kept this painting for a long time, bequeathing most of his pictures to Israeli museums. His sweeping and insightful paintings, such as "The Portrait Of A Hindu Boy", are sold very rarely, experts note.

More and more Russian painters, whose works are displayed by Sotheby's, find their way into Russia. Russian-speaking bidders have already become commonplace at Sotheby's. Therefore one has every reason to believe that many dealers will be bidding in the interests of their Russian clients.

Sotheby's keeps selling ever more Russian works of art; such sales proceeds totalled almost 3 million pounds in May 2002, topping the 4-million-pound mark in November 2002. The auction's organizers have stated really impressive prices; this means that they want to scoop up a lot of money this time, as well.

For example, the starting price of Korovin's painting is 50,000-70,000 pounds.