MacDougall's Sells $22.3 Million in Art as Russian Week Ends 

By John Varoli

Nov. 30 (Bloomberg) -- MacDougall Arts Ltd., a London auction house
specializing in Russian art, sold 10.85 million pounds ($22.3
million) of such artworks yesterday and today. They were the last of
five days of Russian art sales at three auction houses that grossed 
a total of 88.65 million pounds. 

MacDougall's total presale estimate was 10 million pounds to 14 million 
pounds. All 454 lots, most of which came from American and European 
collections, were 19th- and 20th-century paintings, with a large 
selection of Soviet-era non-conformism. MacDougall's said 90 percent 
of the buyers were born in the former Soviet Union, and half are 
Moscow-based. 

On Nov. 26 and 27 Sotheby's sold 38.7 million pounds of Russian 
paintings, Orthodox icons, and Faberge works. On Nov. 28 Christie's 
sold 39.1 million pounds of Russian art, including the Rothschild 
Faberge Egg for 8.98 million pounds, setting a record for the 
highest-grossing Russian sale ever. 

``We've doubled the 6.5 million pounds sold at our June sale, and 
confirmed ourselves as the third-largest auction house on the Russian 
market,'' said William MacDougall, general director at MacDougall's, 
which was founded in 2004. ``The Russian art market is a market where 
a specialty auction house can thrive.'' 

The top lot was Petr Konchalovsky's ``Malvy'' (1921), a floral still 
life that sold for 1 million pounds, more than twice its top estimate 
and a record for the artist at auction. The top postwar lot was ``Yalta 
Conference, Judgement of Paris,'' (1985- 86), by the duo Komar and 
Melamid. It sold for 185,000 pounds, just under its high estimate of 
200,000 pounds and also a record for them at auction. 

Yalta Recast 

The 3-by-1.5-meter canvas casts the Yalta Conference that divided Europe 
after World War II in the context of ancient Greek mythology. The painting 
shows Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt as semi-naked Greek goddesses 
with female breasts. Adolf Hitler is a muscular Paris. 

Konstantin Makovsky's ``The Murder of False Dmitri'' (1906), sold for 976,000 
pounds, on a top estimate of 1 million pounds. The 2-by-3-meter canvas came 
from an American collection and depicts the riotous murder in 1606 of an 
impostor who claimed to be Czar Dmitri, son of Boris Godunov. 

To contact the reporter on this story: John Varoli at jvaroli@gmail.com 

Last Updated: November 30, 2007 14:18 EST