The following open letter has been drafted and signed by a group of art historians, curators, and researchers in response to an upcoming auction of works described as “tributes” to the Russian avant-garde. The issues it outlines touch on the relationship between scholarship and the market, and on the limits of legal compliance as a framework for judgment. The claims presented draw on publicly reported information and ongoing legal proceedings. e-flux publishes this document as a contribution to an ongoing discussion. The positions expressed are those of the signatories.
—Editors
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On April 23, Stanley’s Auction House, based in Zaventem, Belgium, is conducting the second sale titled “Tributes to the Russian Avant-Garde & Constructivists.”
The first sale took place on December 16, 2025. As with the initial event, this auction offers what appear to be crude pastiches of Russian and Ukrainian modernist paintings. The only substantive difference is that this second sale is organized in cooperation with Drouot, one of France’s leading auction platforms.
Stanley’s own description acknowledges the problematic origins of the material: part of the collection “was presented in 2017 as part of an exhibition devoted to Russian modernism and was at the heart of an international controversy over its attribution and provenance,” and was subsequently removed from the museum in 2018. Yet this admission is immediately softened by an attempt to reframe the works as objects of “symbolic, decorative and aesthetic” interest—an argument that, in our view, does not withstand scrutiny.
The scandal surrounding the display of forged Russian modernist works at the Museum of Fine Arts Ghent—which led to the dismissal of Catherine de Zegher—remains one of the most damaging episodes in the recent history of Belgian museums. The alleged suppliers of these works, Igor Toporovsky and Olga Toporovsky, have been under criminal investigation for nearly eight years. Court proceedings are scheduled to begin in early May in Ghent. They face accusations including the sale of 171 forged works for approximately €20 million, money laundering, and related offenses.
In this context, the decision to market approximately one hundred works from the so-called Toporovsky collection—at an average price of around €300 per piece—on the eve of criminal hearings is not merely questionable; it is, in our view, deeply troubling. The identity of the consignor remains undisclosed.
While Stanley’s may formally comply with Belgian law by labeling the works “in the taste of” or “Russian school,” this legal minimalism does not mitigate the broader issue. The catalogue language—invoking “a fascinating dialogue between myth, history and creation”—functions, in our view, as a rhetorical smokescreen. These objects appear to be imitative works with no clear artistic, historical, or scholarly attribution.
To describe them as contributions to the legacy of the Russian avant-garde may be misleading, in a manner comparable to presenting a replica as equivalent to an original. This is not rhetorical exaggeration; it reflects our assessment of the nature of the material.
More importantly, the sale may create risks for the art market. Once dispersed, these works may reenter circulation stripped of their current disclaimers. They are neither durably marked nor systematically recorded in databases such as Art Loss Register. Even more concerning, the December 2025 sale does not appear in major market databases such as Artprice or Artnet, which may limit transparency and traceability.
That Drouot—a leading and influential auction platform—has chosen to associate itself with this operation raises questions. It risks lending institutional legitimacy to the circulation of works whose attribution remains contested.
Signed,
Dr. Maria Mileeva, Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art, The Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK
Dr. Konstantin Akinsha, art historian, curator, Ferrara, Italy
Dr. Masha Chlenova, art historian and curator, New York, USA
Bart de Baere, art historian, curator, Antwerp, Belgium
Dr. Katia Denysova, Research Assistant, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Dr. Clair Finn, Director of Clare Finn & Co. Ltd, secretary to the Visual Arts & Architecture Section of the Critics Circle, London, UK
Dr. Lyolia Kantor-Kazovsky, Professor of Art History, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel
Dr. Klara Kemp-Welch, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History, Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK
Dr. Kamila Kociałkowska, Assistant Professor, University of Warwick, UK
Denis Moiseev, CEO Art Discovery, London–New York, London, UK
Dr. Daniel Muzyczuk, Director, Museum of Art, Łódź, Poland
Dr. Valery Pozner, Research Director, CNRS, Paris, France
Dr. Alla Rosenfeld, art historian, curator, New York, USA
Dr. Aleksandra Shatskikh, art historian, New York, USA
Olena Syanko, Director of the Ukrainian Museum, New York, USA
Jo Vickery, Co-Founder and Director of Vickery Art, Madrid, Spain
Lauren Warner-Treloar, Co-Chair, BASU Arts & Culture Working Group and PhD Candidate in Art & Design History, Kingston University, UK
