The Moscow World Fine Art Fair
From May 27 to June 2 the Moscow World Fine Art Fair opens its doors and offers fine art objects spanning five centuries to Russia’s art-hungry public. Organized by Geneva’s ArtCultureStudio (ACS), the Fair brings together eighty-two of the world’s leading international dealers in fine art and jewellery, many of whom are keen to benefit from Russia’s booming economy.This year’s fair will have a strong modern and contemporary aspect. Almost half of the exhibitors are twentieth century art dealers, and more than ten are contemporary art galleries. This keen interest in 20th and 21st century art, however, will in no way diminish the rich selection of art spanning the 16th through 20th centuries, which includes Old Master and Impressionist paintings, sculpture, tapestries and carpets, Asian art ceramics, porcelain, and jewellery.
Among the exhibitors are Galerie Schmit from Paris, Galerie De Jonckheere from Brussels, Die Galerie from Frankfurt, and the Old Masters Salon from Moscow. Jewellers include Bulgari, Van Cleef and Arpels, Sabbadini, and Wallace Chan of Hong Kong.
Major international auction houses, such as Dorotheum from Austria and Hotel Drouot from France, will also participate.
Russia’s dramatic economic growth over the past decade has many of these players anticipating big deals to be made both during and after the fair. Russia is home to at least 60 billionaires, ranking only behind the United States, China, and Germany. Just one step down from this elite group is an estimated 120,000 to 200,000 millionaires, most living in Moscow. Many have fortunes in oil, gas, timber, steel, telecommunications, real estate, and retailing.
After decades of Soviet deprivation these rich Russians want to live it up, and with the country’s flat-rate income tax of 13% they have plenty of disposable income to lavish on luxuries. The country’s real estate boom also means there’s a lot of free space that needs to be filled with beautiful objects.
“Conventional wisdom was against us,” said ACS president, Yves Bouvier, who founded the MWFAF in 2003 with only 27 exhibitors. “The nay-sayers said the fair wouldn’t succeed, but we met the challenge and are encouraged by the excellent responses we receive from both the exhibitors and the Russian collecting community. Russian collectors have proven their serious intent to pursue art and antiques, breaking records as they go.”
As in the previous three years, the MWFAF will grace Russia’s finest exhibition hall, the Manege, a cavernous 19th century indoor parade ground adjacent to the Kremlin’s ancient walls. Built in 1817 to mark the fifth anniversary of Russia’s victory against Napoleon, the Manege resembles the Grand Palais in Paris.
“Other than the Grand Palais, there is no other exhibition hall like it in the world,” said Sixtine Crutchfield, ACS general manager. “It serves as a splendid backdrop for our exhibitors.”
The Manege was originally built for military parades and exercises, and was large enough to hold a regiment of more than two thousand soldiers, plus viewers and guests. Fire gutted the Manege in March 2004, however, leaving only the charred brick walls. A blitz restoration by the City of Moscow saw the building re-opened on April 18, 2005 to its former historic glory, and with a fully modern infrastructure.
Sixtine Crutchfield
