Inside Konstantin Melnikov’s bus depot (photo courtesy Art Newspaper)

The Art Newspaper reports that Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine at $19.5 billion, has pulled out as general sponsor of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov’s first retrospective in their native Russia.

At the end of April, the Norilsk-based Mikhail Prokhorov Foundation announced a grant of $2m to finance the Kabakov retrospective which will include more than 150 paintings, drawings and objects. The show has been organised in cooperation with the Russian Ministry of Culture.

However, there is immediate speculation in the art community that Mr Abramovich will step in to cover the $2m funding withdrawn by Mr Prokhorov. Ms Kabakov declined to comment on future sponsorship until this has been secured.

Speaking to The Art Newspaper at the Moscow World Fine Art Fair, Joseph Backstein, the Kabakov show’s curator, hinted that media obsession with Dasha Zhukova had irritated Prokhorov as it threatened to overshadow the exhibition itself and its main sponsor. Speaking to MuseumLab in Amsterdam yesterday, Backstein was in good spirit about the outcome of the situation.

This entry was posted on woensdag, juni 11th, 2008 at 11:57 pm and is filed under Art, Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.