Baryshnikov’s Canvas, ’Sword Dance’ Lift Russian Auctions
Vostok 3KA-2 Space Capsule
Sotheby's via Bloomberg
Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule at Sotheby's in New York. The spacecraft orbited the Earth as the final test before the former Soviet Union sent the first man into space.
Vostok 3KA-2 space capsule at Sotheby's in New York. The spacecraft orbited the Earth as the final test before the former Soviet Union sent the first man into space. Source: Sotheby's via Bloomberg
"View of St. Petersburg"
Sotheby's via Bloomberg
"View of St. Petersburg" by Petr Petrovich Vereshchagin is estimated at $300,000 to $500,000.
"View of St. Petersburg" by Petr Petrovich Vereshchagin is estimated at $300,000 to $500,000. Source: Sotheby's via Bloomberg
The side view of a micromosaic table by Gioacchino Barberi. Source: Sotheby's via Bloomberg
Micromosaic Table
Sotheby's via Bloomberg
The top view of a rare micromosaic table by Gioacchino Barberi is estimated at $400,00 to $600,000.
The top view of a rare micromosaic table by Gioacchino Barberi is estimated at $400,00 to $600,000. Source: Sotheby's via Bloomberg
Sotheby’s Russian sales in New York yesterday saw their strongest results in three years, propelled by a Soviet space capsule, a painting of St. Petersburg owned by Mikhail Baryshnikov and an 1830s table.
The two-part auction of Russian paintings and works of art tallied $16.1 million, surpassing the high presale estimate of $15.8 million and was 18 percent higher than the equivalent sale in 2010.
Shortly after the auction ended, the room filled up again with adults and children who came to see the sale of the space capsule that orbited the Earth as the final test before Yuri Gagarin’s flight on April 12, 1961.
The Vostok 3KA-2 sold for $2.9 million to Yevgeny Yurchenko, chairman of the Moscow-based investment fund AS Popov. The price surpassed the low end of the lot’s presale estimate of $2 million to $10 million. The prices include buyer’s commission; the estimates don’t.
“I expected it to go a little bit higher,” said Manny Demos, 12, a student at the Cathedral School in Manhattan, who attended as part of a field trip. “But I did expect it to be bought by a Russian.”
The Russian sales showed a continued flight to quality. More than 30 percent of lots failed to sell while exceptional objects ignited strong bidding.
“No one wants the run-of-the-mill stuff, even if it’s inexpensive,” said John Atzbach, a Redmond, Washington-based dealer in imperial Russian objects. “Collectors want unusual, exciting things. And it’s not just in the Russian field. It’s in every art and antique category.”
St. Petersburg
Baryshnikov’s painting, “View of St. Petersburg” by Petr Vereshchagin attracted five bidders and sold for $746,500, compared with a presale estimate of $300,000 to $500,000. The buyer was identified as Boris Fuchsmann, a private German collector. The proceeds will go to the dancer’s Baryshnikov Arts Center in Manhattan.
A sun-drenched 1887 canvas by Henryk Siemiradzki titled “The Sword Dance” fetched $2.1 million, more than doubling its high estimate of $800,000. It set a record for the artist.
A micro-mosaic table made by Italy’s Barberi workshop for the Russian court in the early 1830s soared to almost $2 million, up from the presale estimate of $400,000 to $600,000.
The trend continued at Christie’s sale of Russian art today. Boris Grigoriev’s arresting portrait of two New York sisters, “Les Enfants” (1922-23), fetched $1.3 million against the estimate range of $600,000 to $800,000.
(Katya Kazakina is a reporter for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are her own.)
To contact the reporter of this story: Katya Kazakina in New York at kkazakina@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
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