ONLINE AUCTION ON DROUOT.COM UNTIL 20 June 2024
An exceptional work by a Russian post-war modernist artist Gеоrgy Nissky
is for sale at MacDougall’s Ecole de Paris and Other Masters auction on 20
June 2024. The painting comes from the collection of Gus Hall (1910-2000),
General Secretary of the Communist Party USA in 1959-2000. It was
presented to Hall on the occasion of his 60th birthday during his visit to the
USSR in 1970 by the Head of State Leonid Brezhnev. Devoted Communist,
indicted under the Smith Act in 1948 and jailed for over 5 years, Gus Hall
remained an ardent supporter of Russian culture and its important collector
till his death in 2000.
The artist Georgy Nissky is one of the most revered Soviet masters of his time.
Back in 2014, a Nissky’s painting from 1964 was sold for $2,952,756. The
current lot at MacDougall’s, also from 1964, is estimated modestly
at £60,00-90,000 (Lot 13). Titled, A Bay in the North, it’s a true
testament to the artist’s minimalist yet overpowering style and
unearthly palette. A Bay in the North, displays what the critics consider
the two main features of Nissky’s oeuvre. Firstly, his artistic quest to capture
vast expanses of land intellectually, sensually and visually. Secondly, the
artist’s ability to tease out the most important traits in his surroundings whilst
eschewing the trap of the minutiae of daily life.
The work comes for sale from the descendants of Gus Hall and has never been on the market before.
MacDougall’s École de Paris and Other Masters online auction features over 100
lots. Other major highlights of the sale include a superb Still Life with Peppers and
a Pot by Robert Falk (Lot 16, £180,000-250,000) and a captivating landscape Altai.
Dry Birch by Alexander Drevin (Lot 18, £35,000-50,000). These works by
distinguished avant-garde artists and also notably teachers of Nissky come to
auction from private European collections. Amongst other highlights are works N.
Goncharova, A.Kuprin, M. Larionov, D. Burliuk, S. Sudeikin, L. Zack, V. Khmelyuk,
V. Weisberg, N. Nesterova and others.
The sale is now open for bidding on Drouot.com until 20 June 2024.
For more information and comments, contact the Director Catherine MacDougall:
european@macdougallauction.com,+44 20 7389 8160.
High resolution photos are available upon request. Please contact Valentina Gritsenko
