Masterpiece Fair

The news is mixed for the new Masterpiece antiques and art fair in London.  Considered by many to be the replacement fair for the long running but now ended Grosvenor House Fair, the new fair has been very well received and attended, with the additional bonus of some strong buying.  Many accounts state there have been a mix of high end purchases, including some early English furniture, but most of the sales seem to be in the contemporary or modern art sector.

There is also some very positive feedback from the dealers about how the show set up and the overall display is better than the cramped quarters at Grosvenor.  Contemporary art, including English art appears to have the most appeal with the buying public at the new show.  Not that anything is wrong with that, but from a personal interest stand point I would like to hear and see more positives about antique furniture.

Judd Tilly reviews at ArtInfo, click HERE to read a review of the new show, and Colin Gleadel of the Telegraph gives a review as the showing was going on, click HERE to read.

Gleadel reports

While sales in six figures for antique furniture and classic cars have been made, modern art appears to have been the best seller. Several galleries specialising in modern British art have made substantial sales, with a painting by Oscar Kokoschka selling for one million pounds.

A student work with distinct gardening appeal by the popular artist and designer, Edward Bawden (1903 - 1989), has been acquired by the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery and Bedford Museum for its collection.

’A General Guide to the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, 1923’, is an unpublished manuscript with 23 pages of exquisite coloured drawings made by Bawden when he was at the Royal College of Art and influenced by Aubrey Beardsley, which he gave to his friend, the artist, Eric Ravilious, describing it as ’My First Book.’

Acquired for £30,000 through the Fine Art Society, and with financial assistance from the Art Fund charity and the V&A Museum, it joins a collection of nearly 3,000 Bawden items, many of which were left to the Museum by Bawden before he died.