Sotheby's to host sale of donated art to raise money for Ukraine

Proceeds will go to the International Rescue Committee for humanitarian aid

The works will go on display at Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries in London. Getty Images

A sale of works by Ukrainian and international artists is being held by Sotheby’s to raise money for the International Rescue Committee.

The art will be sold in an online auction from Friday to the following Thursday, and will also go on display at Sotheby’s New Bond Street galleries in London.

Several of the artworks were rescued directly from Ukraine amid Russia's invasion of the country. The money raised will go directly to the IRC for humanitarian relief.

The works by 13 international and 15 Ukrainian artists were donated directly for sale. Sotheby’s will be returning 100 per cent of the buyer’s premium back to the Ukrainian artists involved.

Among the works donated are Richard Deacon's Under the Weather #4 (2018), which is expected to fetch between £25,000 ($30,660) and £35,000 ($43,000), and Rachel Kneebone's Whorl II (2021), predicted to sell for between £12,000 ($14,700) and £15,000 ($18,400).

Oksana Mas and Nazar Bilyk are among the Ukrainian artists to donate works to the sale. London art dealer James Butterwick, who specialises in Russian and Eastern European art, donated a work from his collection, and facilitated the donation of nine more works from artists and galleries in Ukraine.

“This is a sale that has been brought together with the much-valued assistance of galleries and curators — in Ukraine and abroad — with the collective goal of using art as a force to support the invaluable work of the IRC in the region,” Sebastian Fahey, Sotheby’s managing director for Europe, Middle East and Africa told The Art Newspaper.

“We are uniquely positioned to lend aid to the arts community in the face of crisis and want to be intentional in this moment on spotlighting Ukrainian artists.”