Igor Sechin, 49, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. The US Treasury, closely followed by the European Union announced yesterday a further round of sanctions on various Russian companies and individuals.  The full list as published by the US Treasury is listed below:- Clearly this is not a good development for the Russian Art Market which
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                        The Crimea has suffered from illegal looting of its ancient sites for years.  The former Ukrainian authorities, one of the most corrupt in the world (according to the Russians and little disputed by the European Union), had little political will or financial power
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Sotheby’s have announced they are to sell a selection of paintings from the collection of the Confederation of Artists Union(formerly the Artists Union) in the sale ‘Important Russian Art’ in London on the 2nd and 3rd June.   The Artists Union have some very good paintings as most of the leading Soviet painters were members
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Dan Loeb’s Third Point LLC has produced a vigorous response to Sotheby’s latest position by submitting a well researched new filing to the  SEC.  In a form schedule 14A, citing ‘Definitive Additional Materials,’  Third Point shows how that slumping profits and falling revenue back up their claims that Sotheby’s needs some new directors, a clearer vision
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The deal of the decade is in play as potential suitors for the 60,000 strong collection of the troubled Detroit Institute of Art start to make offers. The Chinese clearly want the Chinese part of the collection and have made 2 offers through the little known Yuan Capital of Hong Kong and the Beijing based
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  On April 4th the activist investor Dan Loeb fired off another open letter to Sotheby’s shareholders calling for support for himself and two others to join the Sotheby’s board and detailing all that he believes is wrong at Sotheby’s.  He says that Sotheby’s has, “lost market share in highly profitable areas like Contemporary Art
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The answer appears to be that, unless the situation escalates, the Russian art market is maintaining its upward trajectory as usual.  Should Russia continue its expansion into other areas other than the Crimea or should the US impose more meaningful sanctions on Russia then the art market will indeed suffer.   Those with business interests in
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