In a recent GstaadLife editorial, Taki, Gstaad’s self-appointed gatekeeper and commentator, wrote an article entitled ‘The fabric of Gstaad’, in which he wonders if Gstaad is going to follow Courcheval, Chamonix and Verbier in becoming a playground for the Russian oligarchs and a Monte Carlo in Saanen. He blames the Russians for the problems in
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Ivan Lindsay is a private art dealer in European and Russian paintings and has established world record prices for many artists including Goya, Canaletto and Hobbema. He is also a publisher and writer and writes for the magazines Country House, Millionaire, Spears Wealth Management Survey and the Art Book Journal. The indispensability of Russia’s vast
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Introduction In contemplating an Old Master painting, the frame is generally taken for granted. It is a fait accompli, and most of us may be unaware of how powerfully the frame can influence our perception and enjoyment of the picture within. The marriage of the two may be harmonious or discordant, enhancing or depressing, or
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Collecting art dates back to classical antiquity. The Romans collected Greek sculpture and, when no original was available, commissioned copies of famous works. Paintings, too, were collected but none have survived except for Egyptian Mummy portraits and Roman wall decoration. In the Dark Ages the concept of the individual artist was lost, but not the
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In a letter to a young friend, the artist Burne Jones once drew a cartoon of himself “attempting to join the world of art” by climbing into a picture – the effort ends up disastrously, of course, when he falls right through the canvas! Spending much of my time struggling to get ‘inside’ of paintings
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Christopher Wright, MA. FRSA Art Historian The hanging of pictures is an art with multiple choices and it is often assumed, therefore, that it is entirely a matter of opinion. In fact, there are numerous rules and guidelines which cannot be broken without a negative affect on the appearance of the painting. The setting Most
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By Ivan Lindsay. Anyone working in mining, metals, diamonds, oil and gas, timber or up-market property is now dealing with the Russians on a regular basis. The marriage of Russian resources to Western consumers is creating huge fortunes and some of this excess capital is helping drive the already overheated Western art market and create
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The aim of this essay is to give an introduction to the Russian Art Market as of writing, summer 2006. With the exception of a few areas that have attracted Western collectors, such as the early 20th century painters like the Cubists and the Supremacists, interest in Russian art lay dormant for most of the
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