MOSCOW.- This year, Sotheby’s will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its Moscow office an exhibition of nearly 70 works of art at the Ivanovsky Hall at the Russian State Library. The exhibition will bring together both works acquired by Russian collectors in past Sotheby’s auctions as well as a strong group of highlights to be offered in forthcoming sales. The latter group will include over 20 highlights from their upcoming sales of Russian art in London, starring works by Ilya Repin, Konstantin Yuon, Ivan Pokhitonov and Fabergé.

Also on view will be a handful of works from their forthcoming Paris auctions of African and Oceanic Art, and Old Master Paintings, reflecting the diverse taste of collectors active in Russia today. Russian collectors are currently active participants in no fewer than 50 categories across Sotheby’s international sales.

Sotheby's history in Russia began in 1988 with a ground-breaking sale of avant-garde and Soviet Contemporary Art in Moscow, the first international auction held in the Soviet Union. Two decades later, in May 2007, Sotheby’s became the first international auction house to open an office in Russia. To mark the 10th anniversary of this milestone, Sotheby’s will exhibit over 40 works of art acquired by Russian art collectors in past Sotheby’s sales, alongside the highlights from their upcoming auctions. This provides a rare opportunity to discover private art collections being assembled in Russia today.

Irina Stepanova, Managing Director of Sotheby’s Russia said: “For the first time in a decade, we’ve brought together artworks from private collections with works from our forthcoming sales – an ambitious exhibition we’ve dreamed about staging for many years. I am extremely grateful to the Russian clients who responded to our request so enthusiastically, and kindly loaned works from their private collections. Without their support this wouldn't happen. Through their loans, we’re able to demonstrate the diversity of categories in which Russian collectors are engaged today, and their great, varied interest and connoisseurship.”

Open to the public on Wednesday 24th May, this year’s exhibition will be held at the Russian State Library, located on the site of the former Rumyantsev museum, the first public museum established in Moscow.

Sotheby’s next sales of Russian Pictures and Russian Works of Art, Fabergé and Icons will take place in London on 6 June 2017. Together, these two sales are expected to make £9.06-13.06 million / US$ 11.02-15.88 million.

Russian Art Highlights on exhibition in Moscow ● Sale in London 6 June 2017
ILYA REPIN Portrait of Yuri Repin by the Bay of Naples (1894) oil on canvas, 178 by 92cm £750,000-1,000,000 / US$ 935,000-1,250,000
Painted in Venice, this portrait of the artist’s 16year-old son is the most important work by the artist to come to auction in several years. Repin’s portraits of his family, painted without a patron or the public in mind, are among his finest works.

KONSTANTIN YUON The Kremlin at Night on the Eve of the Coronation of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich (1914) oil on canvas, 81 by 116.5cm £400,000-600,000 / US$ 497,000-750,000
Resembling a set design, this picture draws on Yuon’s work on a production of Boris Godunov in 1913, and is closely related to his design for the scene when Boris Godunov is crowned Tsar. The theme of the coronation of the first Romanov Tsar was inspired by the lavish celebrations which had taken place in 1913 to celebrate the tercentenary of Russia’s ruling dynasty.

KONSTANTIN YUON A Beautiful Day, Izmailovo (1952) oil on canvas, 65 by 100cm £120,000-180,000 / US$ 150,000-224,000
This painting was gifted by the Soviet government to the British Conservative politician Rab Butler, most likely during Khrushchev’s state visit in April 1956. Barely two months after the first secretary’s ‘secret speech’, which marked the beginning of the process of de-Stalinisation, the Soviet delegation visited Britain for eight days. As the Lord Privy Seal and unofficial deputy to the Prime Minister Anthony Eden, Butler played a key role during this important visit.

IVAN POKHITONOV Fontaine de Tröst, Bulgaria (1886) oil on panel, 16.5 by 27cm £80,000-120,000 / US$ 99,500-150,000
From an Irish collection, this painting was most likely acquired by the great grandfather of the present owner, Captain Archibald Douglas. He was Commander of the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert, on which His Imperial Majesty Nicholas II and his family were guests.

IVAN POKHITONOV La Plaine de Bressoux (c. 18941900) oil on panel, 14.5 by 36cm, £80,000-120,000 / US$ 99,500-150,000

THE MONUMENT TO EMPEROR ALEXANDER III An Important Bronze Equestrian Portrait, After The Model By Prince Paul Troubetzkoy (18661938), Cast By Valsuani Foundry, 1909 height 56cm, 22in. £80,000 - 120,000 / US$ 99,500-149,000
Troubetzkoy’s monument to Emperor Alexander III was unveiled in 1909. The late Emperor’s widow liked it so much that it served as the inspiration for the Fabergé Imperial Egg she received from her son the following year, with a tiny model of the monument in gold as the ‘surprise’ in a rock crystal egg.

Following the Revolution, the monument became an object of derision and in 1937 it was disassembled and nearly melted down. It was saved by the efforts of the Russian Museum, and is now housed in the museum’s Marble Palace in St Petersburg.

An imperial presentation Fabergé gem-set silver kovsh Moscow, 1899-1905 height 24.4cm, 9⅝in. £80,000 - 120,000 / US$ 99,500-149,000
Howard N. Thompson was chief of the Associated Press St Petersburg bureau during the RussoJapanese War, and a vital source of information for Nicholas II. It was AP who first informed Nicholas II of the disastrous result of the Battle of Tsushima, and who confirmed Japanese victory in 1905.

The Emperor, grateful to the journalist for having provided him and his ministers with information during the war, and for his fair and measured coverage of the conflict, presented him with this kovsh as a Christmas gift later that year.

Property from a private collection, Canada
VLADIMIR WEISBERG Two Vases with Peaches on a Dark Table (1961) oil on canvas, 63 by 87cm £ 60,000-80,000 / US$ 75,000-99,500
This painting marks an important transitional period for Weisberg when, in the early 1960s, his enthusiasm for the Russian avant-garde was supplemented by a new interest in contemporary western-European painting and his palette began to change. The painting was acquired directly from the artist by the father of the present owner in Moscow in 1961.

ALEXANDER VOLKOV Caravan gouache on paper, 43 by 50cm £30,000-50,000 / US$ 37,300-62,500
Works by Alexander Volkov are rarely seen at auction. Both this painting and Weisberg’s still-life above have been in the same collection for over fifty years. Volkov’s Caravan was previously in the collection of George Costakis, who had acquired in directly form the artist’s family.

Property from a private collection, United States
LIUBOV POPOVA Untitled pencil and crayon on paper, 33.5 by 24.5cm £30,000-50,000 / US$ 37,300-62,500

NADEZHDA UDALTSOVA Composition (double-sided) gouache over pencil on paper, 28 by 18cm £15,000-20,000 / US$ 18,700-24,900

Two rare works on paper by two important female artists.

Property from a private collection, Switzerland
BORIS KUSTODIEV Costume Design for Dasha, the Merchant’s Wife (1919) watercolour over pencil on paper, 33.5 by 21cm £30,000-50,000 / US$ 37,300-62,500

BORIS KUSTODIEV Bublik Sellers (1919) watercolour over pencil on paper, 33.5 by 21.5cm £25,000-35,000 / US$ 31,100-43,500

ARISTARKH LENTULOV Crimson Sunset, Moscow (1910) watercolour over pencil on paper, 24.5 by 33.5cm £ 25,000-35,000 / US$ 31,100-43,500
Kustodiev worked from June to August 1919 on the set and costume designs for The Power of the Fiend, an opera in five acts by Alexander Serov set in 17th or 18th century Moscow The 1920 production at the former Mariinsky Theatre was directed by Feodor Chaliapin, who kept these two lots for his personal collection. They were last sold at Sotheby’s London in 2002.

Lentulov’s watercolour dates from the beginning of his most important period. In 1910, he is introduced to Petr Konchalovsky with whom he discusses a possible exhibition of young artists. In December of the same year the first Jack of Diamond exhibition opens in Moscow.