We are a private, by-invitation-only gallery situated in London with a stock of pictures by early-20th century Ukrainian artists - we also provide a full authentication service of any work of the Soviet Avant-Garde. In addition, we sell items by Western Masters.

James Butterwick began collecting and selling Ukrainian and Russian Art in 1985 and has established himself as one of the world’s leading dealers and experts in the field.

From 1994, he lived in Moscow, becoming the only foreign member of the Russian Society of Private Collectors, forming collections, contributing to museum exhibitions and reading lectures on the history of Russian Art. In 2008 James became the only foreign member of International Confederation of Antique and Art Dealers of Russia and the CIS. In 2013, he visited Kyiv, the first of over fifty visits to Ukraine before the start of the war.

In 2015 James became to first dealer in Ukrainian and Russian Art to be invited to exhibit at TEFAF, Maastricht Art Fair, showing a collection of works by Soviet Avant Garde painters, including the Ukrainian, Oleksandr Bohomazov (1880-1930), seven of whose works he sold to the Kröller Müller Museum in the Netherlands. He delivers regular lectures about the artist.

A fluent Russian speaker, James also lectures on the issues of authenticity that surround the Ukrainian and Russian Avant Garde. He has spoken at the Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum of Russian Impressionism in Moscow, New York and Cambridge Universities, the Kyiv Centre of International Relations and, in January 2021, at the seminal ‘Original or Fake’ conference, at the Ludwig Museum, Cologne.

A regular on radio and television, James had his own slot of Radio Matryoshka in London and featured in the BBC programme ‘Fake or Fortune’ in 2014. Also played a major role in, 'The Zaks Affair, Anatomy of a Fake Collection', on BBC4 in March 2024 which exposed a collection of Russian work as being fake.
In February 2020 James won a landmark court case in Milan, Italy. Sued by organisers for having described an exhibition of 67 dubious paintings in Mantua as ‘an absolute disgrace’, James was utterly exonerated with the judge describing his comments as being based on, ‘proven recognised competence and experience.’

James has written extensively on Ukrainian and Russian Art, has published sixteen exhibition catalogues and lent extensively to museum exhibitions. ‘In the Eye of the Storm. Ukrainian Modernism 1900’s-1930’s’, which closed at the Royal Academy, London in October 2024, included a large number of pieces sourced from European private collections. All of these came through James.

James acts as a source of museum-quality paintings with flawless provenance from both the Ukrainian, Russian and European School, and has access to a wide range of leading experts, private collections and museums. Before the war, from 2013, he travelled regularly to Ukraine, opening a representative office headed by Katya Vozianova in 2018.

He will be participating in TEFAF 2025 and the Salon des Dessins in Paris with the exhibition. ‘Five Artists. Ukrainian Modernism 1900’s-1930’s’.

Five Artists. Ukrainian Modernism 1900’s-1930’s.

Ukrainian Art of the period is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Apollo magazine’s Exhibition of the Year of 2023 was won by the Thyssen Museum’s exposition of the genre, an exhibition that then travelled to Brussels, the Ludwig in Cologne, the Belvedere and the Royal Academy in London, closing in October 2024.

We are proud to be showing the work of five great Ukrainian artists of the period, Bohomazov, Chernikhov, Kosarev, Zhuk and Piskorsky, all of whom, Chernikhov excepted, were represented in the aforementioned exhibitions and who are the brightest examples of the genre.

Please visit our website www.jamesbutterwick.com or follow this link to view our online catalogue: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1532938-five-artists-ukrainian-modernism-1900s-1930s