In a bow to the inevitable, Sotheby’s will no longer hold its Russian paintings sales in New York due to fading market interest. After all, the majority of Russian expatriates live in London or Continental Europe and few Americans have shown interest in Russia’s compelling history of painting.
Sotheby’s auction house has decided to stop selling paintings by Russian artists in New York due to fading interest in Russian painters in the States. From now on, Russian paintings will only be auctioned in London twice a year.
The decision was announced Thursday by Sonya Bekkerman, the head of Sotheby’s Russian Paintings department at the opening of the auction house’s Moscow display. The US branch will focus only on applied art from Russia, as this genre still interests not only Russian but American art collectors.
The failure of Russian collectors to become interested in Contemporary art may also have had an effect here too. Unlike China, Russian art is both connected to and distinct from Europe’s art history. These works should have a global appeal. Yet they don’t.
No more Russian painters for America: Sotheby’s leaves US market (RT)