Kristina Lyamtseva in conversation with James Butterwick

In response to the Russian Art Week which took place the 22-29 November, MADE IN BED magazine decided it would be a key moment to interview James Butterwick, who ART.RU has described as “one of the leading authorities on Russian Art in the West today.” Kristina Lyamtseva, MA Art Business Student and contributor for Made In Bed magazine reports.

K.L.: What do you think about the recent Russian Art Week which took place several days ago? What do you think about the top Kliun lot at Sotheby’s?

J.B.: It’s much too cheap, that what I think! It should have reached 8 or 10 million. I had really high hopes that in comparison to other lots, it would really fly, but the gentleman who bought it… If he’d have been pushed further, he would have gone on. He is sufficiently wealthy to do that.

K.L.: And what about Roerich lot at Christie’s? 

J.B.: Yeah, you see it was overestimated. I’m gonna be honest with you. I’m slightly surprised that it didn’t sell too. But in whole there’s a sense of instability. I just think that all of it is stagnant. You know the sale’s figures are very good, but it’s not great. The Roerich [that didn’t sell] was a bit of a surprise, because it’s quite important and quite a big picture too.

K.L.: Did you follow any other sales at Bonham’s or MacDougall’s? 

J.B.: I did. I tried to buy something at MacDougall’s actually. And I thought MacDougall’s did quite well. They sold more this time around and they had one very good lot, which was the Goncharova, which did really well. I was very surprised that Kustodiev didn’t sell, but again I think it was overestimated. And I think that was such a sweet picture, such a Russian picture. It’s all about emotions, sunsets and all of this scene, sentimental stuff. It’s a really good Kustodiev and it should have done really well.

K.L.: Generally speaking, did the sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s go better this year compared to last year? 

J.B.: No, they went the same.

K.L.: But do you think that the Russian market is growing?

J.B.: No.

K.L.: What larger geo-political challenges effect the Russian art market in general? 

J.B.: Look, the situation with Russia doesn’t help. It really doesn’t. And it’s not that people don’t have money, they’ve got buckets of it. And the situation with Ukraine doesn’t help either. It’s political instability in Russia. Russia has got an aggressive foreign policy to cover up for their issues with their domestic economy, but the market is much more dependent on Russian buyers. And the motor of the market is the dealers. There were very few dealers around this time, so the market is a bit stagnant at this moment. I always have this feeling that I’m continually fighting against it. And that Kluin it should really have flown and it didn’t. It’s an absolute bargain! I would pay 10 – 12 million for it. It’s unique! 

K.L.: Interest in Russian art is emerging all over the world (Goncharova’s retrospective at Tate Modern etc). Do you agree with that? What are your predictions for the future?

J.B.: It depends on geo-political situation. It’s as simple as that. There is no market in Russia now and previously it was a massive market. The center of the Russian market was Moscow and St. Petersburg and for all intents and purposes it doesn’t exist anymore. Basically, when Russia grows up a bit and realizes that they’ve gone too far down the line in foreign policy and now they can’t go back again, they need to completely change their regime and completely change the mentality. At the same time, Ukraine is busy shooting itself to bits. The buyers in Ukraine are completely dried out. You know I’m trying. I’ve worked with a lot of Ukrainians because of my specialty of Bogomazov. That dried up too. The people are just scared. … People like me, dealers, we have to kind of plow on. We are in a bit of a struggle, because we are really relying on Western buyers to keep this going.

K.L.: What do you think about the contemporary Russian market? Which artists do you recommend collecting in terms of profit? Which artists have the potential?

J.B.: I’m more focused on Ukrainian contemporary artists, because they can paint what they want and in Russia artists can’t freely create, because of the situation in Russia. But there is some interest in non-conformist artists such as Oscar Rabin, Lydia Masterkova, Natalia Nesterova, Vladimir Nemukhin, early Oleg Tselkov. They have potential.

K.L: Who is collecting Russian art nowadays? Do you think that the audience of buyers has changed in terms of everything going online and the younger generation has more and more money?

J.B.: No, it’s not. For Russian art, the buyers are the same. So, it’s extremely important to focus on Western buyers.

K.L.: What do you think about Russian women artists? Are their prices much lower compared to male artists? 

J.B.: In the Russian market there are no men or women artists. They are equal!  Russian women artists such as Natalia Goncharova, Lyubov Popova, Olga Rozanova, Alexandra Exeter, Sonya Terk-Delaunay, Gabriele Munter... They are just flowing! So much creativity! In the Russian art market if the painting is good it doesn’t matter if it’s man or a woman artist. 

Thank you James Butterwick.

Kristina Lyamtseva

MADE IN BED Contributor