Prokhorov Withdraws Funding of Kabakov Retrospective

MOSCOW—Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov has pulled out as the main sponsor of Ilya and Emilia Kabakov's first retrospective in Russia, but the show is still scheduled to open as planned, the Art Newspaper reports.

The exhibition, which includes more than 150 paintings, drawings, and objects, goes on view September 15 at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and CCC Moscow, a new gallery opened by Dasha Zhukova, partner of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Some speculate that Abramovich will cover the $2 million funding withdrawn by Prokhorov, but this has not been confirmed.

Prokhorov, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes magazine at $19.5 billion, did not explain his reason for withdrawing the funding. However, Joseph Backstein, the retrospective’s curator, suggested that Prokhorov worried that that media’s obsession with Zhukova threatened to overshadow the exhibition and its intended main sponsor.