Gene Shapiro to offer Russian, int'l fine & decorative art, Apr. 28-29

Nikolai Roerich, Leaf from the Tibetan Album, tempera on board, est. $100,000-$150,000. Image courtesy Gene Shapiro Auctions.

NEW YORK – With an ever-increasing selection of fine and decorative art, Gene Shapiro Auctions will hold its next auction of Russian and International Art on April 28 and 29, 2012. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide the Internet live bidding for the sale.

The two-day auction event will feature 305 lots of paintings, books and works on paper on Saturday, April 28; and 333 lots of icons, works of art, bronzes, and porcelain on Sunday, April 29. As always, Russian art forms the core of the auction, with European, American and Asian works also comprising a substantial part of the sale. A viewing will take place during the week prior to the auction, with the gallery open daily from April 21 to 27, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 506 E. 74th St., New York, N.Y.

The Saturday portion of the auction will bring together a wide variety of works spanning the centuries and continents, including: a Dutch Golden Age inspired landscape by the 19th century Netherlands artist B. C. Koekkoek; a painting of a horse-mounted Kurd by the Russian master of panorama painting, Franz Roubaud; a number of works by members of the Russian World of Art movement, including Dmitry Stelletsky, Konstantin Korovin, Sergei Sudeikin, Alexandre Benois, and Alexander Yakovlev; a view of a snow-covered Russian monastery by Konstantin Gorbatov; 20th- and 21st-century accumulations by Arman; a hypnotizing oil painting of a jar by Oleg Tselkov.

Highlights from the first portion of the auction include a group of spiritual landscapes by Nikolai Roerich depicting Tibet and the coast of Maine, all included in a 1930 Roerich Museum catalog (estimates ranging from $25,000-$35,000 to $125,000-$175,000). A couple of works by Isaac Levitan including a large oil painting of a horse-drawn sled in a snowy village, and a beautiful view of a rocky shore are included in the sale ($120,000-180,000 and $35,000-$60,000, respectively).

A number of spectacular books and works of paper will also be presented at the auction. Among them is a two-volume coronation album of Nicholas II, gloriously illustrated with plates from originals by Vasnetsov and Repin, among others, set alongside photographs of the royal family, and coronation memorabilia such as guest lists and menus ($30,000-40,000).

The auction also includes early Soviet masterpieces, such an exceptionally rare and masterfully designed propagandistic photographic album documenting the industrialization of the Soviet Union designed by El Lissitzky, Industriya sotsializma [The Industry of Socialism] ($12,000-$15,000), and a first edition of Ot kubizma i futurizma k suprematizmu [From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism], the cover of which is photolithographed with Kazmir Malevich’s iconic Black Square ($3,000-$3,500).

Sunday, bidders will be presented with a superb selection of Russian icons, silver, enamels, crystal, porcelain, bronzes and militaria. A rare First Class Order and Star Badge of St. Anne, accompanied by the original box and sash, as well as an antique First Class Order of St. Stanislaus by Kiebel, will be available for bids ($30,000-$40,000 and $4,500-$5,000, respectively). At 48 lots, icons will play a significant part in the auction, with many protected by beautifully enameled oklads.

Works of art by renown Russian masters such as Karl Fabergé, Gustav Klingert, Ivan Saltykov, Feodor Rückert, and Alexander Liubavin abound.Several striking works by Fabergé and his workmasters, including a delicate bell push decorated in translucent lilac guilloche enamel set with scapolite cabochons ($17,000-$25,000), and a rose gold and sapphire cigarette case by August Frederick Hollming ($10,000-15,000) will be among the items offered.

Works from the Imperial factories, such as an impressive pair of Imperial cut-crystal, ormolu-mounted urns ($50,000-70,000) and a beautifully hand-painted plate from the Babigon service with a view of the royal Konstantinov residence ($15,000-$20,000), will, as always, form a portion of the sale.

For additional information on any lot in the sale, call Gene Shapiro Auctions at 212-717-7500 or e-mail info@geneshapiro.com

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.