Sale Highlights

Sir Peter Ustinov: Portrait

Sir Peter’s roots were a mix of Russian, German, Italian and French – a heritage that allowed him to be “effortlessly European in outlook, liberal in spirit, and wide-ranging in his profession”. Following his parents’ emigration to London after the Russian Revolution, he was born in 1921 to Jona Baron von Ustinov, a journalist and diplomat who worked for MI5 during the Nazi era, and Nadia Benois, a painter who began her career creating sets for the Ballets Russes dance company and then for productions by Tchaikovsky for the Royal Ballet in London. Nadia was herself the niece of Alexandre Benois, a painter and theatre designer whose name became synonymous with Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes.

The live auction comprises some 50 unseen works by Alexandre Benois, Nadia Benois and Zinaida Serebriakova.

Alexandre & Nadia Benois

Film Memorabilia

Paris

Auctioneer | Vice-President | Head of Business Development | Sotheby’s France

Pierre Mothes

Head of Department, Impressionist &amp; Modern Art

Aurélie Vandevoorde

Senior Specialist

Etienne Hellman

Consultant | Russian Pictures

Reto Barmettler

Meet our Specialists

For assistance with bidding and registration, please contact: +33 (0) 1 53 05 53 48 
 
 <a class="Link" href="mailto:bids.paris@sothebys.com">bids.paris@sothebys.com</a>

Stay informed with Sotheby’s top stories, videos, events &amp; news.

Tribute to Nadia and Alexandre Benois

Tribute to Peter Ustinov

An Oscar-winning actor, a playwright, a raconteur, a wit, a diplomat, and a humanitarian: Sir Peter Ustinov (1921-2004) was all these things and so much more. Over the course of a long and distinguished life lived to the full, he had many faces, both public and private. Passing away at the age of eighty-two almost twenty years ago, he bestowed to the world many accomplishments, captured both on film and the written page. Featuring property from his homes in France and Switzerland, the sales include artworks by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Félix Vallotton, Natalia Goncharova, Alexandre and Nadia Benois, Zinaida Serebriakova (his mother’s cousin), and a selection of Old Master drawings, in addition to film memorabilia and annotated scripts.

Sir Peter Ustinov: Actor / Collector