The spacesuit of cosmonaut Gennady Strekalov, Theatrum Mundi gallery
A young Italian gallery, presenting on its stand a “cabinet of curiosities” made up of various objects, is offering a spacesuit that has flown in space. It belonged to flight engineer Gennady Strekalov and was used on the Soyuz TM-10 mission in 1990. Three years later, it entered Malcolm Forbes’s collection and is now for sale for the modest sum of €130,000.
Marc Chagall. The Bride and Groom in the Sky over Paris, Boulakia Fine Arts gallery
Marc Chagall has long been regarded as a universal painter, and his works therefore appear in international Impressionist and Modernist auctions rather than those devoted specifically to Russian artists. The Parisian gallery Boulakia Fine Arts regularly brings works by this great master to market. This season, the romantic canvas The Bride and Groom in the Sky over Paris stands out as one of the fair’s most expensive items: €3.8 million.
Read also: Lost treasures: how the Bolsheviks sold works from Russian museums
The mantel clock The Triumph Chariot of the Infant Bacchus, La Pendulerie gallery
As the owners of this other Parisian gallery explain, this gilded bronze clock dating from 1795 and created by Louis XVI’s watchmaker, Robert Robin, belonged to the Russian Tsar Paul I. It was reportedly acquired by the Emperor for the Mikhailovsky Palace in Saint Petersburg at the very end of the 18th century. The bronze case, however, is attributed to another master of that era, Pierre-Philippe Thomire.
Icon of John the Baptist, Brenske gallery
This Munich art gallery is one of the oldest in the world; it specialises in icons and takes part in BRAFA every year. This year, its stand is also largely filled with Russian rarities from different centuries and at different price points. For example, this 17th-century icon depicting John the Baptist costs €5,000, while to become the proud owner of the one of King David, you should expect to pay around €50,000.
Read also: How to read and understand a Russian icon
Ossip Zadkine. Outdoor sculpture, Fleury gallery
The avant-gardist Ossip Zadkine, a fellow student of Marc Chagall, is no less a regular at fairs in France and Belgium than his colleagues from the School of Paris and his neighbours at La Ruche in Montparnasse. One of the highlights of the stand of the Parisian Fleury gallery is an imposing outdoor sculpture by this artist, from the collections of New York collectors. Like a Chagall canvas on the theme of the circus, it is offered for sale at €2.8 million.
Maria Kochenkova. Pink Cable, or the Fifth Wave of Feminism, Clara Scremini gallery
The fair also features contemporary Russian works, including a sculpture by Maria Kochenkova, which this Parisian gallery is exhibiting for the first time. The artist currently lives and works in Denmark, and her greatest passion since her student days in St Petersburg has been glass. Using this fragile material, she creates fantastic works, which may be inspired by anything from fishing gear to butcher shops or the Soviet past. This glass sculpture is priced between €5,000 and €10,000.
In 2020, the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris will host part of the sumptuous collection of brothers Mikhail and Ivan Morozov, who rank among the greatest art collectors of the 20th century.
Source: Russia beyond the Headlines