MacDougall’s, the auction house that specialises exclusively in Russian art, will lead on a 10-lot collection of ‘important’ Soviet paintings assembled in the 1990s by an American collector. The stand-out lot in the November 29 sale is a monumental 4ft 5in x 6ft 6in (1.35 x 1.99m) canvas of Soviet workers by Alexander Deineka (1899-1969).
Heroes of the First Five-Year Plan (pictured above), c.1936, belongs to Deineka’s large compositions of the 1930s depicting the new Soviet ‘hero worker’, and is billed as the last painting from this series left in private hands. It carries an estimate of £2m-3m.
Another major work by Deineka will lead Sotheby’s anniversary sale of Soviet-era art in New Bond Street on November 28.
The Coal Miner is a 5ft 7in x 23in (1.71m x 59cm) slice of a larger canvas from 1925 called At the Pit (In the Mine). Deineka painted it after visiting coal mines in the Donbass region, and kept it in his studio until his death in 1969. Consigned from the renowned Russian art collection of Raymond and Susan Johnson, the miner is guided at £3.5m-4.5m.
Russian Art Week is November 24-December 1.
