More than 40 leading dealers, the majority of which are based in London, have lent their support to a new art fair announced last monthwho will replace the Masterpieces Fair canceled at Chelsea in June.
The Treasure House Fair (22-26 June), formerly the London Summer Art Fair, is launched by two of the original founders of Masterpiece: London art dealer Thomas Woodham-Smith and Harry van Der Hoorn, owner of the Dutch construction company stalls. stabilizer.
“London desperately needs an art fair in June. It’s always been part of the season, dating back to the days of Grosvenor House,” says Simon Phillips, chairman of antique furniture dealers Ronald Phillips and co-founder of Masterpiece Grosvenor House was an art and antiques fair founded in 1934, which folded in 2009 a year before Masterpiece was founded. “It’s such a part of what’s happening in London. It’s imperative” , he adds.
At the new fair, Phillips is joined by the likes of Richard Green, Charles Ede, Didier, Piano Nobile and Adrian Sassoon. Of the 44 confirmed galleries, 35 have spaces in London, six have galleries in the United States, five are based in Europe and two operate in East Asia. (The full list of resellers is at the bottom of this article.)
Covering a wide range of disciplines from fine art and furniture design to jewelry and antiques, the Treasure House Fair is about a third the size of Masterpiece, which launched in 2010 with 140 dealers.
The now-defunct fair had a more international focus, but was canceled in January due to “escalating costs and a declining number of international exhibitors”, according to a spokesperson for MCH Group, owner of Masterpiece.
Masterpiece chief executive Lucie Kitchener said the twin headwinds of the pandemic and Brexit had made the event commercially unviable. Jonathan Green, the managing director of Richard Green, thinks that “Brexit is definitely a problem”, particularly when it comes to shipping red tape. “A lot of dealerships don’t have the infrastructure to do all of that,” he says.
Green expects customers who might be in London for the summer season – which includes social events such as the Royal Ascot horse races, the Wimbledon tennis tournament and the Chelsea Flower Show – to attend the new fair . “It’s not quite the same animal as [Tefaf] Maastricht where people make a pilgrimage,” he says. “Masterpiece was much more of a trade show and I think it will probably have the same atmosphere.”
Phillips thinks “Brexit hasn’t helped” but notes there are other problems with attending a fair abroad. “The paperwork is bad, but the bills we get from shippers are even worse,” he says. The dealer remains optimistic about the participation of American customers – “we hope it is not too late for museums”, he adds.
As for the smaller scale of the new venture, most exhibitors agree that well-organized booths of the best gear are far more important than size. “Everyone should care about quality,” says ceramics dealer Adrian Sassoon.
Peter Osborne, the co-founder of modern UK specialists Osborne Samuel Gallery, believes the new fair will still attract “significant support” from collectors in the UK and overseas. “It’s the most popular time of year to visit London with lots of events going on,” he says. “We always organize a special exhibition in the gallery which we then take to the fair. This gives two opportunities to our best collectors and works very well for us.
The list of dealers confirmed to participate so far is as follows:
Adrian Alan
Adrian Sassoon Ltd
Alan Wheatley
Butchoff Antiques
Carter Marsh & Co.
Charles Ede Ltd
Christophe Kingzett Fine Arts
Didier S.A.
E&H Ways
Edward Barnsley Collection
Edward Hurst
Facet & Fable
Cahn Gallery (Basel)
Gmurzynska Gallery (Zurich)
Geoffrey Diner Gallery (Washington)
Godson & Coles
Howard Walwyn
jonathan cooper
Keshishian (London, New York)
Koopman Art Rare
A lighthouse called Kanata (Tokyo)
Long-Sharp Gallery (Indianapolis)
MacConnal-Mason
Michel Goedhuis
Michele Beiny (New York)
Samuel Osborne
Patrick & Ondine Mestdagh (Brussels)
Perrin Fine Arts Ltd.
Pierre Harrington
noble piano
Portland Gallery
Portuondo (London, Madrid, New York)
Richard Green
RIVA / Ventura UK Ltd (Marbella, Majorca, Barcelona, London)
Ronald Phillips
Rose Uniacke
Rountree Tryon Gallery
S Franses (London, New York)
SJ Shrub (New York)
Antiquities of Somlo
Gallery 3812 (London, Hong Kong)
Tobie Birch
Bronze Universe (Paris)
Wartsky
