Alexandra Exter, A Russian Avant Garde Master Painter
A Dream Painter Betrayed By Time and Political Circumstances
The vibrations of the 1987 stock exchanges crash lasted until the summer of 1988. I was hoping that something good would draw my attention. I was praying that it would be something impressive and something that the future was to prove to be a big winner.
The catalogues kept coming, the images did not attract me much but then again a dealer in art is like a hunter. Ten times out hunting for that elusive lottery like painting and once perhaps successful. I never lost faith in the business and I always hoped for that good piece to buy somewhere.
The catalogue from Paris was impressive but it had mostly French paintings. Then I stambled on the painting by Alexandra Exter. Impressive, provenanced and well within my range at 4000 pounds.
Just four thousand pounds estimate. Four months earlier the artist did not ring a bell, when this painting sold at Sothebys Arcade Sales in New York for three thousand dollars. I had no interest then in Exter but this time round I had something more solid to rely on and start a frenzied research about her.
Christies London sold a small watercolour of hers for eight thousand pounds a few months earlier. That was an abstract drawing but then again, this was an oil painting measuring 116 x 80 cm and in great colouration and style.
This was the painting I wanted to buy and I went head first into researching Alexandra Exter and her art. Not too many records to rely on but a lot of literature and exhibitions in her lifetime. More importantly she was considered one of the top six Russian avant-garde artists. My research showed her to be an artist in Kiev, in Moscow, in Paris and in Rome. She was indeed a big name with very little auction activity.
The question was not to buy, the question was how much to pay for the painting. I had a war chest of fifteen thousand pounds and that I was prepared to pay to acquire the work. In my view and my calculations any work of an artist selling for eight thousand for a small watercolour can sell for that amount as a much bigger oil painting. I did not consider the difference in style so much important, which I had to at some point later.
I visited the main art libraries and I researched further into the artist and her work. I was convinced of the value of the artist and therefore of the work. I calculated a Russian interest in the work in the future. I believed Russia was a sleeping giant coming out of a hybernation of nearly a century.
The whole sum of 15,000 was ready to be paid for the Exter. I felt the painting was a masterpiece by a master of nearly one hundred years ago painted in a style the whole market was looking for to buy.
I could not wait for the day of the auction. I was really smitten and I am surprised I did not jump on a boat to go to France and bid on the spot for the work. I must have had other obligations and other undertakings. So many paintings to work on, research and try to buy. Besides and of most importance, you never know whether you will be allowed to buy at auction.
Going back and forth to Paris would have cost me about three hundred pounds. I decided to play the game over the phone and with luck, I could buy anything for nearly nothing.
The day of the sale arrived and I was glued to the phone waiting for the Exter to come up for sale. The French were anxious to sell rather than anxious to bid against me. It was a tough time for the art market and I was somehow loaded with about 20,000 cash to buy the best I could.
One two three and the Exter was mine at 4,500 inclusive of commissions. I could not believe it, I was unsure whether to jump in joy or put my head in the sand and cry. Surely the French know one or two things about an artist who spend nearly forty years of her life in Paris. I was not sure any more, I was apprehensive but then again, I felt I was ahead of the market by a few months if not one year from any sales.
No internet to check prices and sales like today. The Art Sales Indexes were out once a year in October /November and so, the result at Christies London about the Exter sale was not known to the masses. It was just those who followed the top market and sales. I comforted myself, I pacified myself and I encouraged my self with all positive thoughts too. I had to, as I was proven right in most cases earlier.
Jongkind, Lebasque, Hoffman, Montezin, Choultze and others.
I was absolutely thrilled with the purchase of the Exter work and at that price. Ten thousand below my top estimate was serious money and that allowed me to make a few more investments.
June 1988 was to prove a very kind month to me with two great purchases within one week of each other. The Exter in Paris and the Dyf in San Fransisco.
Nothing more happened in the summer of 1988 but more were to happen soon enough to keep me busy and confirm how the art market can lead one to serious heights and profits and then to incredible depths and losses.
The marathon of promoting and selling the Exter was long and full of hurdles! But, was it a fruitfull one?
