LONDON, November 25 (RIA Novosti) – Two Russian avant-garde paintings from the early 20th century sold for a total of $10 million on Monday at an auction at Christie’s in London.
Ilya Mashkov’s “The Bathers,” unveiled at a 1913 exhibition in St. Petersburg, sold for $6.6 million, at least five times its estimated worth.
The painting centers around two nude, sunbathing women composed of shapes that “make up the world around us – triangles for breasts, a circle for a stomach, a diamond for a lower back,” Chistie’s said in a description on its website.
Aristarkh Lentulov’s “Church in Alupka,” a clear example of the artist’s cubist influence, sold for $3.4 million.
The colorful piece, whose subject features many of the traditional onion-domed towers that characterize a Russian Orthodox church, was painted in 1916.
The auction featured more than 400 Russian artworks.
