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Auction PR Publicity Announcements News and Information

Mikhail Klodt’s Russian Masterpiece Sells For $1.3 Million At Heritage Auction Galleries’ Inaugural Russian Fine Art Auction

Dallas, TX – Heritage Auction Galleries auctioned over $2.5 million of Russian fine art in its inaugural Russian auction, held at its Design District gallery in Dallas, Texas on June 4, 2008. Headlining the auction was the sale of Mikhail Klodt’s 1858 masterpiece painting Riverside Farmstead which sold for $1,314,500 (including buyer’s premium).

Painted in 1858 by the master of 19th century Russian landscapes, Riverside Farmstead won Klodt the prestigious gold medal at the Imperial Academy at Saint Petersburg in 1858. The picture depicts a pastoral scene from Klodt’s birthplace in Sigulda , Latvia and is a remarkably realist canvas at 41 x 60 inches. Sales of Klodt’s works are rare, especially one as important and ground-breaking as this. Klodt would enjoy much popularity in his day and started a revolutionary movement among Russian artists called the ‘Wanderers’, itinerant painters who travelled Russia completing works that depicted everyday Russian life.

Over 150 years of Russian fine art were represented at the auction. From the 1858 Klodt painting to modern works from the former Soviet Union, there were paintings from several famous Russian schools of art; the Wanderer’s, Jack of Diamonds group, and World of Art, as well as many examples of Socialist Realism and modern works.

Among many other Russian paintings sold at the auction was one by Nikolai Timkov titled Rostov in Winter which sold for $119,500. Igor Grabar’s Summer Evening brought $227,050 and Konstantin Yuon’s An Autumnal View from the Balcony went for $227,050 as well, all including the buyer’s premium. Heritage will follow with another Russian fine art auction in November 2008.

Heritage Auction Galleries is the world’s third largest auction house and is increasing its presence in the fine art market, especially with their successes in the field of Russian fine art. The sale of the $1.3 million Klodt painting was preceded by Heritage’s sale of Konstantin Aivazovsky’ Pushkin at the Water’s Edge last October which sold for $1.6 million, including the buyer’s premium.

Mikhail Klodt (Russian, 1832-1902)
Riverside Farmstead, 1858
Oil on canvas
41-3/4 x 60-1/2 inches (106.0 x 153.7 cm)
Signed lower right: M. Clodt also signed lower left: Clodt
Realized: $1,314,500

Nikolai Efimovich Timkov (Russian, 1912-1993)
Rostov in Winter, 1970-74
Oil on canvas
56 x 56 inches (142.2 x 142.2 cm)
Signed, titled, and dated verso in Cyrillic
Realized: $119,500

Igor’ Grabar’ (Russian, 1871-1960)
Summer Evening, 1923
Oil on canvas
28 x 33-3/4 inches (71.1 x 85.7 cm)
Signed and dated lower right in Cyrillic
Realized: $227,500

Konstantin Yuon (Russian, 1875-1958)
An Autumnal View from the Balcony
Oil on canvas
28-1/4 x 23 inches (71.8 x 58.4 cm)
Signed lower right in Cyrillic
Realized: $227,500

For further information about this auction, including images, please contact Dr. Douglass Brown at 972-834-4056.

For more information about Heritage’s auctions, and a complete record of prices realized, along with full-color, enlargeable photos of each lot, please visit www.HA.com