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Please enjoy this short article on Flora Yukhnovich written by Kerry Hall here at Quastel Associates;
2021 has been an extraordinary year for young visual artist Flora Yukhnovich. The 31-year-old’s paintings, which put a contemporary spin on the Rococo movement of the late 17th and early 18th century, have seen an explosion in demand and the auction results say it all. In the first half of 2021, you may have been able to pick up a Yukhnovich work on paper for as little as £16,500 or an oil on linen (her media of choice) for £120,000 but fast forward just a few months and records are being broken. Her ‘I’ll Have What She’s Having’ was recently at auction at Sothebys with an estimate of £60,000-£80,000 but sold for a record-breaking £2.2 million! Another work titled ‘Puits d'amour (Wells of Love)’ sold for over £900,000 and as it was much smaller in size, demonstrates that the record breaking Sothebys result was not a one-off. This begs the question; who is Flora Yukhnovich and how has she soared to such popularity, seemingly over night?
Yukhnovich was born in Norwich in 1990. Basing herself in London, she went on to study Portraiture at The Heatherley School of Fine Art followed by getting an MA in Fine Art at City & Guilds of London Art School. She formed her own style by drawing from Rococo artists such as François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard but expressing them in a freer, more abstracted way. The femininity, use of vibrant and alluring colour and liberal brushwork of her works has proved very popular with buyers. Since graduating art school, Yukhnovich has exhibited at Parafin (London), GASK (the Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region in the Czech Republic) the Jerwood Gallery (Hastings), Blenheim Walk Gallery and Leeds Arts University. Add the recent signing with Victoria Miro, an esteemed contemporary art gallery in London, and it seems that the stars have aligned for this young artist.
The incredible journey of Flora Yukhnovich was brought to the attention of Quastel Associates after a client got in touch to have a painting by her valued. The client, having followed the dramatic increases in value of Yukhnovich’s work, thought it was prudent that they updated their insurance. It is a very good job that they did as they purchased the work in 2018 for just £1,500 and now it is going to be insured for a staggering £1.5 million. A very good acquisition made purely for the love of the painting which has now turned into a very sound investment indeed.
To find out more about an art valuation with Quastel Associates, please call
0207 253 1710 or click
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