Russian Avant-Garde Art Experience
Prior to the 1917 communist revolution in Russia there was a certain genre of art that flourished known as avant-garde ‘futurist’ style. Many of the artists were genuine anarchists, also LGBQ. Kandinsky, Malevich, Goncharova, Lissitzky, Popova, to name only a few! They produced many very unique works that today are considered legendary and highly collectible. However the communist revolution pretty much eliminated those works, only a limited number of their ‘authentic’ works survived.
My Russian wife and I sold a number of pieces purported to be by those artists on behalf of their owner, a relative. Since they lacked ‘provenance’ (documented traceable history) it was not possible to represent them as ‘authentic’ works, nevertheless those oil on canvass; acrylic; and water color works, certainly appeared to be so.
The owner dated his Russian ancestry back to the days, and even the court, of Tsar Nicholas II, which we heavily relied on. But, again, we were unable to state they were genuine authentic works.
Selling them became a rather exciting hobby for us. People from all over the world were buyers; Germany, Spain, Poland, USA, Russia and others.
Although I was a little uneasy about selling those pieces, it was made clear to buyers we did not guarantee authenticity. However, to us they certainly looked authentic, such as very old appearing media; oil on canvass, acrylic, and water colors. But of course we were by no means well qualified to judge.
Most buyers were well pleased with their purchases. But a few hastened to seek authenticity, no doubt hoping for a great financial windfall. However typically in the art world this is very difficult and expensive. In fact its said the majority of famous works in galleries around the world are fake copies of the real ones! There are very few recognized experts world-wide who are considered qualified to certify authenticity. We learned that such trusted ‘experts’ are elderly men in Europe. So you can imagine the voracity of their judgements.
Therefore a few buyers were disappointed. One in particular was a Moscow resident, quite likely a wealthy oligarch. He submitted his purchase to the prestigious Tretyakov Gallery hoping to verify a piece we sold him as authentic. But they said ‘nyet’ (no). However, he cheerfully didn’t want a refund, but simply asked to exchange it for other avant-garde pieces we had for sale, not even questioning their authenticity, so we obliged.
If you would like to learn more about the early Russian avant-garde art, which is highly collectable and valuable today, here is a google website: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=avante+gard+1917+russian+art
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