Sotheby's to hold huge modern Russian art auction

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Sotheby's are to hold the first dedicated sale of modern and contemporary Soviet art outside of Russia on February 15, the auction house's Russian expert Joanna Vickery said Friday.

Around 120 pieces -- including paintings, collages and sculpture dating from the 1970s and 80s and taken from private American, European and Russian collections -- will be put under the hammer.

Sotheby's expect to raise in the region of 1.5 million pounds (2.3 million euros, 2.9 million dollars).

Russian art of every period of history has been attracting huge interest at auctions houses in London. Last December a three-day sale at Christie's raised more than 28 million pounds, breaking the world record for a sale of the country's art.

"For five years the Russian art market has been going through a renaissance and is attracting more and more interest with Russian and foreign collectors," Vickery told AFP on Friday.

"In the 1970s and 80s it would mostly have been diplomats and foreign journalists who bought these paintings, taking them outside of the Soviet Union," she said.

Among the works up for sale is Erik Bulatov's "Revolution-Perestroika", which depicts former leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Lenin in a parody of social realist art, and is expected to raise up to 120,000 pounds.

In 2006, sales of Russian art earned 82 million pounds across Sotheby's worldwide network, an increase of more than 46 percent over 2005.

Sotheby's held an auction of Soviet avant-garde and contemporary art in Moscow in 1998, raising just over 2 million pounds.

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AFP 261959 GMT 01 07