Russian art, Russian collectors

The startling acquisition of Malcolm Forbes's Fabergé collection for well over $90 million by the industrialist Viktor Vekselberg has thrust Russia's rich new class of art collectors into the spotlight. Not all of them are chasing imperial splendor.

At Vladimir Nekrassov's Arbat Prestige cosmetics emporium on Peace Prospect here, monumental paintings of Lenin, Stalin and the Battle of Stalingrad jostle with perfume, lipstick, anti-cellulite gels, tampons and Antonio Banderas Diavolo cologne. Nearly 400 canvases -- of Nikita S. Khrushchev, Yuri Gagarin, churches, moody nudes, Soviet industry and collective farms -- bedeck the emporium, a former fish store. The Tretyakov Gallery borrows paintings from Mr. Nekrassov for its exhibitions.

Posted by David on March 29, 2004 10:52 AM