The strength of Russian art as an investment has been underlined once again with Christie’s achieving a record price for The
Coachman by Boris Kustodiev.
The work was painted in 1923 and was formerly in the collection of
Noble Prize winner and friend of the artist Peter Kapitza (1894-1984).
The
Coachman realised £4,409,250, setting a new world record for the
artist at auction. The painting was bought via telephone by a private European
collector.
Alexis de Tiesenhausen, international head
of Christie’s Russian Art department said: ‘We were thrilled to
have been entrusted with this painting which is an outstanding work in the
oeuvre of Boris Kustodiev. As ever, works that have been privately sourced and
presented in perfect condition have again caught the eye of collectors.’
The Coachman was a key painting in the
seminal Russian Art Exhibition in New York in 1924 and was chosen from over 900
works as the poster image for this groundbreaking show.
The exhibition opened
at Grand Central Palace, presenting to an international audience a selection of
works by 100 of Russia’s finest contemporary artists.
In the wake of the 1917
Revolution and World War I, against a backdrop of social change, the painting came to represent an image of Russia that Russians chose to present to
the world.
The émigré Count Ilya Tolstoy said: ‘I am not an art
critic. I did not come to see the pictures: I came to see Russia and that is
what I saw.’
No comments:
Post a Comment