The Western Market for Russian Art Sees a Record Year Despite Turmoil
Despite the political and economic turmoil, the year 2024 was a record year for the Western market for Russian art, according to Jo Vickery, an expert on Russian art, in a column for the art newspaper The Art Newspaper. The sales of Russian art in the major London auction houses have picked up, she notes, even though the works are being offered under veiled titles, such as “Paris School and other Masters” at MacDougall’s or “Fabergé, Imperial and Revolutionary Art” at Sotheby’s.
Vickery reports that the surge in the Russian art market was particularly noticeable at Sotheby’s autumn sale, where three portraits of Sinaida Serebrjakowa (1884-1967) were up for sale: Prince Felix Yussupov, his wife, Princess Irina Alexandrovna Romanova and their daughter, Princess Irina Yussupova, painted in 1925. At the time, Serebrjakowa was living in Paris and took commissions from Russian émigrés to earn a living. These lots together fetched a price of 750,000 euros, far exceeding expectations. The highlight of the Bonhams sale and the most expensive lot of the year in London was an example of the historical painter Vasily Polenov (1844-1927), a canvas from the cycle “The Life of Christ” which sold for 1.4 million pounds.
Today, there is a consistent interest among collectors in religious art, Russian icons, traditional paintings and items with patriotic undertones or historical value, Vickery notes. And she emphasizes that even if the major Russian auctions do not return to the Western world in the same form as they did for several decades, something similar will come soon, simply because the market is very promising despite economic sanctions and political changes.
The Western art market in general, however, has not developed too well in the last years, says Vickery. In contrast, the Russian domestic market has been booming since the start of the Ukraine conflict, mainly due to the boycott of Russian collectors and collections in the West. “It’s going well here” the Western expert has to admit.