Russian Art Is Latest Oil Casualty as Auction Houses Pull Back

Plunging oil sent jitters through markets for high-yield bonds and energy stocks. Another casualty: Russian art.

The latest Russian art sales at four London auction houses tallied 17.2 million pounds ($25.9 million) earlier this month, the lowest in records dating to 2007 and a 58 percent drop from a year ago, according to RussianArtandCulture.com. Christie’s is ending standalone sales of Russian art in New York, the company said, and Mark Moehrke is leaving as head of its Russian works of art department, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

“The market has shrunk, I am afraid,” said William MacDougall, whose London-based MacDougall’s specializes in Russian art. “Russian collectors are not buying as much as they were a year or two ago.”

The Russian economy has been battered by a slump of more than 60 percent in the price of oil in the past two years, as well as international sanctions following the country’s annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine. That’s chipped away at the wealth of the millionaires and billionaires who are among the biggest buyers of Russian art.

While that segment is a niche, a retreat by Russian buyers could also hurt sales of Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary auctions, and indicate a softening in the broader art market.

“Great things are still finding buyers, but the situation in Russia is frozen,” said Sonya Bekkerman, former head of Sotheby’s Russian painting department in New York, who left in 2013. “People are concerned about their businesses and the economy.”

Russia’s gross domestic product contracted 4.1 percent in the third quarter. Crude oil prices have plunged by almost two-thirds from their high point last year. The ruble is down more than 50 percent against the dollar.