Russian masterpieces to take centre stage at Sotheby’s London sales

KOLKATA: Russian masterpieces of the twentieth century will take centre stage at Sotheby’s London sales on 2nd and 3rd June as two celebrated collections comprising some of the finest examples of artwork from the period are offered on the open market for the very first time. Alongside the most important group of Russian avant-garde works ever to come to the market, the auctions will include 22 Soviet works from the encyclopaedic collection of the International Confederation of Artists’ Unions - the first major group of Soviet artworks ever to appear at auction.

Together these two collections include the most significant works to ever come up for sale by a group of revered Russian artists who very rarely appear at auction: Alexander Deineka, Georgy Nissky, Kirill Zdanevich and Varvara Stepanova. They also include the most important work by Kazimir Malevich to appear on the market since his Suprematist Composition sold for $60 million at Sotheby’s in 2008. Entitled, Head of a Peasant, it is one of the very last significant works by the artist remaining in private hands. Its sale may represent the final opportunity for collectors to acquire a major work by Malevich.

Sotheby’s Russian Works of Art auctions on 3rd June will be distinguished by the sale of a private collection of over porcelain 200 charting nearly two centuries of Russian culture, history and manufacture.