IMAGE DETAILS

'Mary Baker, her basket', English beadwork basket, Witney Antiques at Masterpiece

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09 July 2010

London in June has always been a major attraction for art and antiques buyers at all levels of the market but most art world observers were keen to see how the cards would fall in the 2010, first year in living memory without The Grosvenor House Antiques and Art Fair, the supposed jewel in the crown of the London art fairs.

The first event of June notable for the rug world was KARMA, an informal dealers’ row type event based in a hotel in Kensington Church Street http://www.karma.eu.com/. From 4-7 June, 11 dealers, mostly from the UK but including three Germans (Sarah Hadberken, Hans Homm and Thomas Wild), an American (Chuck Paterson) and an Italian (Alberto Levi) offered from their small ‘apartments’ collectible rugs and textiles to informed visitors, all of whom benefited from the convivial atmosphere as well as time to dig through piles of rugs and chat about age and origins etc. There were a number of good lectures in the evenings by the dealers, the best of which was a discursive and well-illustrated talk given by Levi about design in Persian flatweaves – a topic that deserves wider dissemination. Most people sold and the event proves that there is a good market and keen interest in tribal weavings in the UK, and this low cost, and low risk, option is a formula that works for the dealers and the knowledgeable visitors – that having been said if the event decides to grow bigger and aims to incite new visitors and foster nascent collectors it will have to consider a change of venue. In 2011, with ICOC casting its shadow over all European rug events, the decision has been taken to host the KARMA 2011 to coincide with the London sales 13-16th April 2011.

Opening at the same at time as KARMA was The London International Fine Art Fair http://www.lifaf.com/ (LIFAF, 4-13 June), the rebranded and re-launched summer Olympia under the auspices of its new partner, American fair organiser David Lester. With 150 exhibitors arranged over two floors of Olympia Exhibition Hall, this was by far the largest event of the month attracting 28,000 visitors. Reports from the fair were mixed, there was a murmur of annoyance at the end of the fair from some quarters, but rug and textile exhibitors were happy with their sales. Chris and Angela Legge from Oxford http://www.christopherleggeorientalcarpets.com/ sold consistently well, benefiting no doubt from being the only tribal rugs specialist at the fair, and textile specialist Marilyn Garrow from London http://www.marilyngarrow.com/ reported good interest and sales including four embroidered panels from an 18th century Chechaoun panel and good Ottoman embroidery, and her neighbour Robin Yacoubian of Gallery Yacou http://www.galleryyacou.com/ in Fulham sold well at the end and after the fair. Ulrike Montigel http://gallery-arabesque.com/ offered objet, textiles and sculpture and had mixed interest in all but was particularly pleased with rug enquiries.

During Olympia’s run, the first of London’s two new events opened with a discrete Collector’s Private View, following by a flamboyant opening night Gala in support of the Bush Theatre, London. In a purpose-built marquee in Kensington Gardens opposite the Albert Hall, Art Antiques London http://www.haughton.com/ (10-16 June) was organised by fair maestri Brian and Anna Haughton, had 63 exhibitors incorporating 15 dealers that had been part of the company’s Ceramics fair, and attracted 14,500 visitors. The event benefited from a great location and perfect weather and definitely attracted local Kensington residents, as well as people who were more than happy to be in the park in early summer. The freshness of the fair and its appearance infected the moods of the exhibitors with everyone pleased to be part of the new venture and delighted at meeting new potential clients that they had not previously met. The carpet and textile offering is an area that is ripe for continued development in this fair, as the open and light venue is the perfect match for the bold colours and designs of textile art. Keshishian http://www.keshishiancarpets.com/ of Pimlico were the only specialist exhibitors, who received many enquiries about the early ‘Eagle’ Kazak rug on their stand, an area that is outside the interests normally associated with the brothers’ stock. The walls of the stand carried a small Pontremoli needlework carpet with the added prestige of once being owned Marina Duchess of Kent, as well as a complete mid-16th century Flemish large-leaf Verdure tapestry in fine condition with playful drawing and in great condition and colour (pictured). Two other galleries had textiles as part of their display: The Jane Kahan Gallery http://www.janekahan.com/ from New York, who specialises in the work of 20th century European and American masters, had a number of limited edition tapestries by such greats of the 20th century as Chagall and Picasso including “Pierrot et Arlequin (Musicians)” made by Atelier J. de la Baume Dürrbach, which imparts Picasso’s oeuvre with an added texture and at a fraction of the price of the original; also there was Arts & Crafts dealer Paul Reeves http://www.paulreeveslondon.com/ of Kensington and Cirencester, who offered a number of period textiles on his stand including a roll of Morris & Co ‘Brer Rabbit’ fabric, printed using indigo discharge on cotton. One should expect a larger role call of exhibitors next year for this event as many dealers visited and were obviously trying to work out where they should exhibit next year.

The other new kid on the block this year was Masterpiece (http://www.masterpiecefair.com/) , a new concept in fairs combining ‘The best of the best’ in all areas with fine art, antiques with fine dining, classic cars, fine wine, jewellery and contemporary design in an attempt to redefine what has traditional been expected from art fairs. With 117 exhibitors and 18,000 visitors from 24-29 June, the modular pavilion specially designed for the fair this year occupied the empty site of the former army barracks in Chelsea and will move into the site of the Royal Hospital next year where Decorex and the Chelsea Flower show are held. The combination of temporary iconic London restaurants such as Scott’s, Le Caprice and The Ivy with furniture made by Viscount Linley http://www.davidlinley.com/, Bugatti sports cars, classic French vintages and traditional antiques dispelled any of the formality and stuffiness that one might associate with English art fairs and brought in new and diverse buyers that might normally not have attended an ‘antiques’ fair. Thomas Woodham-Smith, the fair chairman, said from the outset he had wanted to create “an event that was a day out…bringing together the best of the best” and wanted to make people feel that they were ‘being pampered’, a case strongly made by the evidence of the murmurs of “finally a London Maastricht” being uttered by many, though Masterpiece has some way to go to secure the sheer gravitas and scope of TEFAF. Certainly there is much room to increase the presence of textile art here with only one specialist exhibitor, Witney Antiques from Oxfordshire, whose stand focused on English needlework, an area in which the gallery is one of the world’s best; the most interesting and rare item on offer there was an exceptional beadwork casket inscribed ‘Mary Baker Her Basket 1670’. Relatively little is known about these baskets, thought to be made to celebrate either births or marriages, and this, the only known dated and signed example, is in remarkable good condition with the iron wire and glass beads virtually undamaged. Two other stands presented selected works of textile art amongst their wider offerings: Mallett (a fine set of Eaton Hall embroidered silk panels from 1875 and a monumental Louis XIV needlepoint carpet, circa 1670 France) and AR-PAB (Alvaro Roquette and Pedro Aguiar Branco) who specialise in Portuguese ‘colonial’ art (a 16th century Flemish tapestry depicting the ‘Triumph of D. João de Castro [Viceroy] in India’, ordered by D. Álvaro de Castro, son of D. João de Castro, between 1558 and 1560 in Flanders).

The only rug on display at the fair was in fact not a rug: it was a remarkable small prayer size rug (24” x 42”, 0.61 x1.07m) made out of 26,649 precious stones and 15.9kg of gold and made or woven in France 20-30 years ago laid out prominently on the stand of Kathryn Bonanno from New York.

In a year characterised by change, economic gloom and a certain amount of jostling for position, the landscape of the London art and antiques fair calendar in June is being redrawn. What the final outcome will be is unclear but it is all to play for as the burning question remains if there is enough room at the top of the market for all of these events.