Interest in Russian Art Grows Yearly in International Market - Expert

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th November, 2021) Russian art is panning out as an attractive investment from year to year especially against the backdrop of post-COVID-19 uncertainty, Anatoly Bekkerman, the owner of New York's ABA gallery and one of the leading dealers of Russian art in the United States, told Sputnik.

The sales of Russian art are going to be held later this month and in early December by almost all leading auction houses, including Sotheby's, Christies and Bonhams.

"Now there is a very large activity in the Russian art market because everything is unstable: big inflation, political problems and COVID-19 - all together create a great nervousness in the investment plan. People want to diversify their assets. Good art is, of course, a powerful financial instrument and many people understand this.

Therefore, good things are bought with great interest, and every year Russian art breaks new price records," Bekkerman said.

Commenting on the dynamics of the art market, as well as the dynamics of sales of Russian art in particular, Bekkerman said that with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the market saw a decrease in sales, however, when the market got used to the format of online auctions, the sales increased again.

On November 9, the ABA gallery opened the exhibition "Masterpieces of Russian Art from American Collections," in the museum-exhibition complex of the Moscow's Russian academy of Arts. The gallery brought the paintings by Nicholas Roerich, Robert Falk, Konstantin Korovin and Ivan Aivazovsky, some of the works are being exhibited for the first time in Russia.