LONDON.- MacDougall Auctions announced the private sale of an exceptional collection of seven oil paintings and works on paper by Martiros Saryan, previously scheduled for MacDougall’s 12-13 June Russian Art Auctions. The works were purchased by an anonymous private collector at their high estimates, totalling US$ 1.2 million.

Catherine MacDougall, Director of MacDougall Auctions, said: “Works of such quality by Martiros Saryan are rare for the art market. A successful private sale in the first days of the auction preview only highlights this fact. The acquisition sets a competitive benchmark for our upcoming US$ 30 million Russian Art auctions.”

The collection of Saryan works is one of the most complete collections coming up on the market covering almost the full stretch of Saryan’s artistic career. Among six works on paper Blossoming Garden is the earliest dating from 1907, the period of Saryan’s establishment as an artist. The pearl of the collection is the 1922 picture Aragats in Summer that was already acclaimed by one of Saryan’s contemporaries as a “masterpiece worthy of mention” (R. G. Drampyan, Saryan, Iskusstvo, Mocow, 1964, p. 39).

Other exceptional works from the upcoming Important 19th and 20th Century Russian Art Auction (12 June) at MacDougall’s are Ivan Aivazovsky, View of Odessa by Moonlight, (�800,000-�1,800,000), Ivan Aivazovsky, The Disembarkation of Christopher Columbus (�750,000-1,500,000) and Ivan Shishkin, Merikula - At the Dacha (�750,000-�1,500,000). The Post War and Contemporary Russian Art Auction on 13 June features an iconic piece by Komar & Melamid, The History of the USSR (�600,000-�900,000). The installation consists of 58 panels each representing a year from the Soviet history from 1917 to the year of the works completion 1974.