Art collectors call for boycott of Russian-owned auction house
(NEW YORK POST) – As the financial world unites to launch powerful sanctions against Putin’s oligarchs, the art auction season has begun in London as if nothing has changed.
On Thursday, Phillips – the Russian-owned auction house – will hold a 20th Century and contemporary art auction where a three-picture series by artist Francis Bacon is expected to fetch up to $73 million.
Matthew Girling, the former CEO of Bonhams, a competing auction house, told The Art Newspaper that people should boycott Phillips over its Russian links. Phillips is owned by Mercury Group, which is Russia’s largest luxury-goods company. It was founded in 1993 by Russian entrepreneurs Leonid Fridlyand and Leonid Strunin, who are reportedly close to Putin.
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