Art News

President Dmitry Medvedev Outsells Putin at Russian Charity Auction

A photo made by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to display it at a charity auction in St. Petersburg, Russia. The photo showing the Tobolsk Kremlin sold at a charity auction that exhibits works by other Russian politicians and celebrities. - AP Photo/Dmitry Lovetsky.

ST. PETERSBURG
(AP).-
President
Dmitry Medvedev has outdone Putin, his powerful predecessor — as an artist.A photograph Medvedev took of the
kremlin, or fortress, in a Siberian town sold for 51 million rubles ($1.7
million) at a charity auction
, surpassing the 37 million rubles
(then $1.1 million) paid last year for a painting by Prime Minister Vladimir
Putin.
Medvedev’s
black-and-white photo was snapped up by Mikhail Zingarevich, a board member at
Ilim Group, the pulp and paper company where Medvedev once worked as a lawyer.
Zingarevich said he planned to hang the 69-by-96-centimeter (27-by-38-inch)
picture in his office.