Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Navigation
Primary Navigation
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular
Secondary Navigation
Asia Pacific
World
Search
Search:
Slow London auctions suggest Russian art frenzy is over
AFP - Saturday, November 29
LONDON (AFP) - - A disappointing week of Russian art sales here appears to have marked the end of a frenzied buying spree by collectors from the former Soviet Union, whose fortunes have diminished with the stock markets.
London's top auction houses failed to reach even their lower estimates in four days of sales of paintings, religious icons, rare books and other valuables -- although these levels were set before the financial crisis.
"The market is undergoing a correction, which can be blamed on the crisis," Alexis de Tiesenhausen, international director of the Russia department at Christie's auction house, told AFP after the sales ended Thursday.
"There is still an interest in Russia art -- the masters are still selling," he said, but predicted the market as a whole would decline by 20 percent.
Sotheby's sold 25.2 million pounds (30.3 million euros) of Russian art this week, well below the minimum estimate of 30 million pounds and the 38.6 million made this time last year. A third of lots were left unsold.
There was no absence of fur-clad blondes and Russian chatter at the auction house's New Bond Street auction room on Monday, but those attending the evening sale of Russian art appeared to have lost their enthusiasm.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky's "View of Constantinople and the Bosphorus", estimated at 2.5 million pounds, failed to find a buyer.
The evening also saw the auctioneer, with an air of defeatism, sell "A Troika Leaving the Farmstead," an ink on paper work by an unknown artist, valued at between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds, for 13 pounds.
"It's boring, static," said one collector as he left the Sotheby's sale.
The story was the same at Christie's auction house, which sold 13.7 million pounds in its Russian sales this week. This is far removed from the record 44.9 million pounds garnered last November.
There were still a few success stories -- a painting by Natalia Goncharova, "Still Life with Watermelons", was the top seller over the four days, going for 1.55 million pounds.
Meanwhile, a "Reclining Nude" by her husband, Russian avant-garde artist Mikhail Larionov, fetched 1.38 million pounds, up from its lower estimate of 1.2 million pounds.
But the figures are far from those achieved in previous years, when the resources of Russia's oil and gas billionaires seemed unending, and the Rothschild Faberge egg could be sold at Christie's for nine million pounds.
Russian art, which barely existed for auction houses 10 years ago, has gone up by 90 percent worldwide in the past decade, according to the art insurer Hiscox.
But the Russian stock market has plummeted by 65 percent since the beginning of the year, taking many collectors' buying power with it.
"Given the current economic climate we are extremely pleased with the total achieved and have sold almost two thirds of the lots we offered for sale," Jo Vickery, head of Sotheby's Russia department, said nevertheless.
A collection of Faberge objects offered as presents from Russian Empress Maria Feodorovna to her younger sister, Princess Thyra of Denmark, passed their minimum estimated value and sold for 1.95 million pounds.
Email Story
IM Story
Printable View
Blog This
Recommend this article
Average (0 votes)
Sign in to recommend this article »
Most Recommended Stories »
Related Articles: Entertainment & Lifestyle
Stage actress Patricia Marand dies at 74AP - 1 hour 24 minutes ago
DeVotchKa heads to ski slopes, instruments in towAP - 2 hours 41 minutes ago
Postwar rapes of German women confronted in new filmAFP - Saturday, November 29
Slow London auctions suggest Russian art frenzy is overAFP - Saturday, November 29
Whitney Houston denies reunion with ex Bobby BrownAP - Saturday, November 29
Enlarge Photo
A painting entitled 'The Varangians on the Dnieper' by Russian artist Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky on display at Sotheby's auction house in London in 2006. A disappointing week of Russian art sales here appears to have marked the end of a frenzied buying spree by collectors from the former Soviet Union, whose fortunes have diminished with the stock markets.
Most Popular – Entertainment
Viewed
US clears Bank of America deal for Merrill Lynch
US president's mother 'doing very well' in hospital: Laura Bush
Love handles increase death risk: study
Michael Jackson strikes 'amicable' deal with Arab sheikh
Obama vows 'help is on the way' for the economy
View Complete List »
Search:
Home
Singapore
Asia Pacific
World
Business
Entertainment
Sports
Technology
Top Stories
Most Popular