An exceptional portrait by Boris Kustodiev will be among the highlights of London’s June 2011 Russian week.
Painted in 1911 while Kustodiev was undergoing treatment in the Swiss resort town of Leysin, this intimate portrait of his daughter Irina was included in the 1912?1913 World of Art exhibition in St Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev, as well as the Baltic Exhibition in Malmö in 1914. In 1924 it was shown at the Russian Art Exhibition in New York and was subsequently acquired by an American collector. Offered for the first time at auction, Portrait of Irina Kustodieva is estimated at £1,200,000-1,800,000.
MacDougall’s Russian Classic Art sale on 8 June 2011 is followed on 9 June by three auctions: Russian Contemporary Art, Russian Works on Paper, and Russian Icons and Works of Art. Overall, more than 500 lots will be on offer, totalling £15m. The sale will be on exhibition in London 3?7 June.
MacDougall Auctions is the only fine art auction house to specialise in Russian art. In the twelve months from July 2009 to June 2010, its auctions raised 20m GBP, and it regularly establishes new world records, notably a 1.4m GBP masterpiece by Ilya Repin. In the December 2009 Russian Week in London, MacDougall’s was number one for Russian paintings, the largest seller of the four auction houses with sales that week, and it sold the first and second most expensive paintings of the week. In the June 2010 Russian Week, MacDougall’s was the second largest seller of Russian Paintings. For several years it has consistently been one of the top three auction houses in the world for Russian art.
www.macdougallauction.com