Category Archives: Art and Sculpture

Collection care: how to protect your investment

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Collections are usually amassed over years and great love and care often goes into the acquisition of each piece. Whether your motivation behind the collection is financial or whether it is to leave a legacy, it is vital to make the right choices on the display and care of the artwork or object as these factors will impact the condition of the artwork, not only in the short term, but also in the long term. Condition plays a crucial factor when determining the value on the open market. Many owners are surprisingly casual with their artwork, particularly owners who have inherited the works rather than bought them and, therefore, see them more emotionally rather than in terms of their commercial value.

As with all assets, it’s essential to ensure that works of art are cared for properly and that their condition is maintained since good condition is one of the key factors in their financial value.

Working with clients and their collections over the years, I’ve seen certain recurring issues that can be detrimental to the condition of an artwork, so I’d like to share some of the key things to consider when looking after the items in your collection:

Cleaning

When an object stays in a set position, the risk of damage is minimal, however, when it is moved it is instantly put into a precarious position. Broken items are a frequent casualty in the hands of an over enthusiastic cleaner. If an item is broken, it’s vital to pick up every fragment as this will make repairs more successful and, in most cases, less costly. It’s best to avoid gluing things back together yourself, judging from the attempts I have seen, it’s never quite as easy as you might think!

If you have a valuable and vulnerable collection, it may be worthwhile to take the precautionary measure of employing a Conservation Cleaner. A specialist in this area will have the expertise to handle the object with sensitivity, knowing how and where to lift an object. They will account for weak or fragile areas or surfaces to prevent damage from occurring during the process.

Of course, not everyone has the budget for a Conservation Cleaner and speaking from my own experience, I like to clean the fragile items in my own collection. I treat these items differently to someone who doesn’t have the same emotional attachment, however careful they might be.

If cleaning a shelf which displays many objects, find a safe location and transfer the items to this position. Trying to dust around objects, can result in knocking over adjacent items. If you have something with a handle like a jug, it will be safer to hold it in two hands and hold it from the main body of the object. Hairline cracks which can be invisible to the naked eye can be present and therefore breaks can occur at vulnerable points.

Surface dirt and dust can affect an object as it absorbs moisture from the air, into the surface so it is important to clean an item regularly. A cleaner may adopt a method
that isn’t appropriate and can cause more damage to an object than the dirt itself; a duster may have fibres which can snag and cause damage to an item, for example a delicate gilded picture frame. A good solution for this is to use a soft brush, like an artist’s paint brush, if used gently, these can help remove dust without catching on or abrading vulnerable areas.

Specialist firms offer in-house training to domestic staff charged with the day-to-day maintenance of properties and their contents. Bespoke sessions are put together around the individual requirements of the house and collection, identifying those pieces which are safe to handle and how best to approach them, and to identify which pieces require attention from a conservator.

Display/Installation

If an item is very delicate, it is worth considering a bespoke mount or display case to help support it and perhaps to prevent it getting too dusty or from being accidentally knocked over.

Weak picture hangings and mounts are common and are an easily preventable cause of damage. I have seen many an insurance claim following the snapping of a hanging wire. Not only do the pictures themselves become damaged, but they can break items beneath them.

Many owners are so keen to display a new piece, they use the existing fixings without considering whether they are suitably strong. Engaging a specialist to carry out the installation of an artwork can be money well spent.

Pictures should be framed to conservation standards, using non-reactive materials. Works on paper can become foxed – the mottled brown staining which is caused by acids from the backboards or mounts leaching into the surface of the paper. Over time this will cause the paper to degrade.

It also is worth considering changing the glazing for acrylic or glass with a UV filter, this will help retain the colours of the artwork. If acrylic is used, this will prevent damage from occurring in the event of an accident; it will not splinter and break as glass does. However, if you have a pastel artwork, acrylic should not be used as the static charge can draw the pastel to the glazing itself. A good conservation framer can offer recommendations on what will be the best solution for your picture.

Marble and bronze items should be handled and installed by professional handlers, not by general movers who can lift heavy items. People think marble is robust as it is heavy, but in fact its natural veins cause the material to be very weak and prone to damage if handled incorrectly.

The same can be said for bronze as there may inherent weaknesses in the casting. A specialist will know how best to move the item taking weak areas into account.

Environment

Consideration should be given as to where you choose to display artwork, and environmental factors such as temperature and humidity should be assessed when choosing a suitable location.

Air conditioning, central heating, artificial lighting and direct sun light all potentially have a detrimental effect on the composition of an artwork, both structurally and in terms of the surface finishes. Certain walls within rooms can provide a more challenging environment than others due to the way the sunlight falls within the room or if they are an external wall which can increase issues with damp.

There is technology available for monitoring environmental conditions and is one of the most effective means of protecting works of art from short-and-long-term environmental damage. However, the information needs to be looked at and analysed and whilst helpful it cannot replace regular inspection of pieces to monitor their condition. I once saw an Andy Warhol ink sketch of which had completely faded, and this apparently had happened in a few months. The owners of the house had been at one of their other properties and this was missed by the house keeping staff.

Condition Report

A report carried out by a specialist to assess the condition of an object can be vital in some situations. It is often a requirement if lending or borrowing a work of art. If carried out by an independent third party, it acts as a neutral account and helps to protect all parties involved in the transaction.

It is also a useful precautionary measure to prevent a costly mistake when purchasing a work of art (a condition report may reveal areas of damage, details of restoration or materials or processes that aren’t inconsistent with the provided date of a piece), and in situations where there is an increased risk of damage, for example during transit.

Items damaged during shipping are a rarity, but accidents do unfortunately happen, which is why so many collectors are keen to explore solutions that allow them to reduce the number of times they need to ship valuables. Christie’s recently used hologram technology to take a Degas Bronze Sculpture of a Dancer on tour, although can this really be a satisfactory substitute for seeing the real item in the flesh?

Insurers may like to engage a professional condition report following a loss, a conservator can potentially point out factors such as an inherent weakness in an object such as a manufacturing fault, like a vein in a piece of marble or an area of previous repair which has caused an area of stress elsewhere in the object.

Outdoor

Outdoor sculpture or furniture is an area that is often overlooked, designed in heavy materials, it is easy to assume that materials such as stone and metal are resilient, however this is not the case and pieces do require care and attention to prevent the objects from deterioration.

There has been an increase in rainfall in the UK, so it is now more important than ever to protect garden statuary from excessive water ingress. Weather extremes are also more commonplace, and this can profoundly affect marble or stone as it absorbs moisture, followed by freezing temperatures which can cause the stone to crack due to the fluctuations.

A wax coating can be applied to bronzes to help protect the surface from the elements. Sculptures of stone or metal should be covered during winter; the purpose of a cover is to help maintain a steady condition to help mitigate damaging fluctuations. The covers must be lightweight so as not to damage the sculpture, but robust enough to protect the object. In interest of sustainability and to minimise cost to the client, there are covers available which can be stored during more temperament months and then reused when necessary.

So, you have taken precautionary measures, but accidents can happen and when they do the following steps may just help:

Gather up all of the broken pieces, no matter how small – restoration can often be more successful if all of the original pieces have been saved and this will also help lessen any loss in value.

  1. Collectors should be mindful of the fact that the way an object is restored may play a key part in mitigating any loss of value following damage.
  2. One should always approach a reputable company to undertake treatment. Once an accident has been discovered, or damaged has been identified, contact this company as soon as possible.
  3. Finally, if making a related insurance claim, do remember to photograph and preserve all the evidence. If the claim is due to damage during transit, it’s important to keep hold of shipping documentation, condition reports and packing materials and make sure photographs are taken as a piece is unpacked.

For more information contact Sarah Giles on 07876 147230 or visit www.sarahgilescc.com

The one that got away…

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In the early 1950s, L.S. Lowry completed a very small number of large industrial landscape compositions, each of which included many, if not all, of his favourite motifs, people, chimneys, dogs, children, houses, lakes, etc… this particular 1953 ‘Industrial’ features another favourite, Stockport Viaduct, seen towards the rear of the composition.

In a letter from Lowry to the Tate about the 1955 large Industrial in their collection, Lowry writes ‘this is a composite picture, a blank canvas, I didn’t have the slightest idea when I started the picture, but it eventually came out the way you see it, this is the way I like working best.’

In fact, there are only four of these monumental Lowry industrial landscapes, all were painted between 1950 and 1955. The picture below, which I first encountered in 1988, dates from 1953 and was at the time, the only one of the four still left in private hands and available to own. The other three were already part of permanent Museum collections.

Then one day in the late summer of 1988 I received a call out of the blue from the director of a kitchen manufacturer in Manchester, he told me that they owned a Lowry ‘industrial’ painting and that for fiduciary reasons the company needed to sell it before the end of the year and could we (Christie’s) help. At this stage, I knew very little about the picture, as back then there was no email or internet, so I was flying blind as to whether it was th one I was thinking it was or a print or something else…

I put the phone down having made an appointment to see it the next day and I made my way up to Manchester, arriving at an unpromising anonymous industrial estate just outside the centre.

As I made my way up to the top floor, I notice there was nothing on the walls anywhere except for a few Lowry poster type prints. I was beginning to think I was on a wild goose chase when as I turned a corner, there in front of me on the director’s office wall was an utterly monumental and glorious 45” x 60” inch industrial landscape oil painting, truly a Lowry masterpiece!!

I was blown away by it but manage to compose myself enough for a conversation with the MD who was charming and easy to talk to. I established that in principle the company was very happy to sell it with me, at Christie’s in our upcoming 11th November 1988 auction with a then world record estimate of £100,00-150,000. Today it would probably be £3-5 million! However, in every good auction tale, there is a wrinkle. In this case the MD had offered the Salford Art Gallery the option to buy the picture before the auction if they could raise £100,000 in time. Back then, Salford City Council’s Lowry collection was housed on the top floor of the Salford Museum and Art Gallery, in Peel Park, Salford. The state of the art ‘Lowry’ Art Gallery and theatre complex was just a twinkle in somebody’s eye.

Let’s step back for a moment and set the scene back in 1988: the Art market, particularly Modern and Impressionist Art, was roaring away. Contemporary Art was 30 years away from being the dominant force it is today and the market for Art and Antiques was at an all-time high, even today some of the prices achieved back then have never been beaten and buyers were hungry for rare pictures. Interestingly, also at this time Donald Trump was in London making his first ‘state’ visit. He and his wife Ivana were in town and appeared as guests on Terry Wogan’s nightly TV chat show, Wogan even makes a rare ‘slip up’ by calling Ivana, ‘Diana’. Donald doesn’t even notice the gaff as he launches into his ideas on how he ‘could make America great again’.

A few days after my visit the Lowry picture arrived safely from Manchester and I was relieved and pleased to see it matched up with all our research so we could get on and prepare our catalogue entry and get it photographed for the upcoming 11th November auction, where it was included as lot 480. The catalogue came out in the second week of October and calls began to come in for the various lots, including lot 480, which was beginning to create a real buzz around it. I remember one major dealer coming in to view it before the public viewing and telling me that he thought it could make £250,000 or more, and that he was prepared to bid up to £350,000, a price well over three times the then world record. This would have set the Lowry market alight which is what I was secretly hoping for…

Of course, I was also hoping Salford would be able to acquire the picture and as the auction day drew nearer this looked increasingly likely and indeed, I think by Wednesday 9th November I had verbal followed by written confirmation that Salford has purchased the piece and the picture was duly withdrawn from sale and later transported up to Salford where it hangs today in pride of place in the Lowry Salford Quays next to the new Media Centre.

This was truly one that got away and looking back I am certain that if it had been offered there was enough presale interest for it to have made a huge price, thus electrifying the Lowry market 20 years earlier. Had that been the case, who knows where prices would be now!!

Reflections on the old master sales

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It is hard to know what to make of the Old Master Sales at the beginning of July. The totals of Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Bonhams at under £50m were only just above half of what they were last year at £80m.

The wonderful Lucas Cranach (lot 6 in Christie’s evening sale) of the Nymph of the Spring, a naked girl in a rocky river landscape, sold for £9.4m. More than the whole of the Sotheby’s Evening Sale put together (£7.1m).

There were some strong individual prices, just not enough of them. I’ve chosen 3 pictures from last weeks crop of Old Masters to write about, one from each of the major London salerooms.

What these three have in common is that they are all in beautiful state and, to my mind, are attractive images, but they are all slightly old-fashioned English “Country House” taste. It was going to be very interesting to see how they fared, in a market obsessed with the quirky and the novel.

My Bonhams choice was lot 60, a fine horse portrait by James Seymour. It was described as “a brown thoroughbred”, traditionally identified as “Spanking Roger”. I thought the presence of two foxhounds and a groom who looked as if he was wearing Beaufort Hunt livery implied that he was a hunter, but my brother-in-law, Hamish Alexander, who is in the racing world said the horse was too fine-boned to be a hunter. I take his word for it. He is an expert and Bonhams got it right.

Despite a suggestion that the signature and date were added later, he galloped away from an estimate of £30,000-50,000 to a very respectable £157,000.

My Sotheby’s choice was the star lot, a marvellous Willem van de Velde the Younger of “The Surrender of the Royal Prince during the Four Days’ Battle”. Although the subject was war, there was no gore, not too many burning vessels, nor drowning sailors and the composition was well -balanced and harmonious, but it didn’t find a buyer. I think the problem was the estimate; at £4-6m the top end was already a world record for the artist at auction. At half that estimate, it would have sailed away.

We finish on an optimistic note! Christie’s offered, as lot 12 in their evening sale, a Pastoral Landscape by Jacob van Ruisdael, the great Haarlem landscape painter. There was a panel join in the sky, but it hardly showed and the evening sun catching the sandy bank of the stream in the foreground, was just the sort of touch that appealed so much in Jacob’s work to John Constable. He owned four of them and made copies of others. This painting more than doubled the estimate with the price of £3.4m including buyer’s premium. It was painted in oil on a small oak panel, just over 2 feet wide and it was a very gentle subject, but it struck a chord in the hearts of several bidders.

If there is a lesson to be learned from these sales, it is that good Old Masters still command strong prices, but it is difficult for auctioneers to persuade collectors to part with their paintings in a time of conflict and inflation.

The one that got away…

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Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Back in 2005, I was newly married, London based and high on life. Money was tight, but we were cool. I’ve always loved poster art. Remember Athena? Later New York subway graffiti album cover art and band posters. Maybe because that’s all I could afford. At that time we read alternative magazines, went to all manner of clubs, listened to house music and drank Smirnoff ice.

However, the Country was also at war. Mobile phone and personal computers were becoming commonplace, and the traditional methods of communication and control were on the wane. There felt a real burgeoning of youthful expression against the ‘accepted norm’. Artists such as Faile, Eulus and Banksy, to name but a few, were hosting the odd show and having read an article on Banksy, an early Internet search took me to the now notorious and now defunct ‘Pictures on Walls’.

On their website was Banksy’s CND Soldiers and Jack and Jill. Signed copies were £156.50. I forget how much the unsigned copies were.

So, for my birthday we went all in and bought a signed Banksy CND soldiers. Limited Edition of 350. Arrived rolled up in a tube! It shows two soldiers in full combat gear surreptitiously painting a red CND sign on a wall. I loved it. It said everything about my views on the current war, the bold colours, glorious details and it was subversive in a very nice way!

We had it framed and it hung in our house, carefully shaded from sunlight for 10 years.

By 2016, I was a single mum of two boisterous boys whose parkour moves were practised upon all pieces of furniture and under the gaze of the, often wonky, CND soldiers. I had followed in the rise of Banksy and one day realised I really should insure it. An art broker friend suggested to have it insured for between £7,000 and £10,000. I was stunned. I simply did not have the money to insure the picture, coupled with the fact I needed a new kitchen.

So, with the help of my broker, a nice Belgian gentleman offered an astounding £14,000 (inc fees) and also offered to pay for packing and transport. I did offer it to the Andipa gallery in Knightsbridge, but they felt £7,000 was the most they would go to.

So, off my Banksy went to Belgium, as part of a pension pot, and I built a lovely kitchen. However, within a couple of years the same picture went for £32,000 at auction and now commands in the region of £50,000.

Yes, I am gutted I sold the picture, as it would be in my pension pot now. However, that piece of art gave a single mum the chance to have a new heart to her home. To feel good about having people over and to look to the future. The one that got away, yes, but left great memories, and sometimes that might be more worthwhile.

The one that got away…

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The “ones that got away” would be a more apt description of my career! Jan van de Capelle, Hugo van de Goes, John Constable, they have all slipped through my hands.

When you are young, you don’t always back your own judgement: you buy paintings speculatively and then start to research them. This involves showing photographs or the picture itself to whoever is the acknowledged expert. If they come back to you and say: “no, it isn’t by such and such”, you take it on the chin. You would never have the temerity to ask them to justify their opinion. That comes later, when you are older and have seen how fallible scholars are.

The picture I have chosen is a Transfiguration by Ludovico Carracci. I bought it at Phillips Son and Neale (now Bonhams) 40 years ago, catalogued as Italian School. I thought it was beautifully painted and probably Bolognese. It had a noble provenance “The Earl of Darnley” and was housed in a fine, if bulky, William IV carved and giltwood frame, all of which felt very positive to me. My brother, James, still has the frame with a mirror in it, in his hall.

After cleaning, which revealed a surface in remarkable condition, I had it photographed and sent images to the two most eminent scholars on Bolognese Baroque Art, one in the USA and the other in Germany. Their names are available upon request! Sadly, neither of them had a clue who painted my picture, nor did they show any enthusiasm for it. I advertised it in Apollo (Art Magazine) as “Italian School” and there was no response to that either!

Several years passed and I got a call from a friend who had found an old copy of Apollo and wondered if I still had the painting and, of course, I did. By some extraordinary fluke he had been working in a provincial museum Print Room and had come across two 17th Century engravings after my painting where the author was given as Ludovico Carracci, so he immediately realised the significance of what he’d seen. He asked me what the best price was and we shook hands on £6,000. It had cost me £3,000 before cleaning and reframing so it wasn’t a greedy price despite looking as if I had doubled my money.

He was not a rich man so I knew that he must know who the author of my Transfiguration was and that’s when he told me about the two prints. Good luck to him but, why on earth didn’t the two scholars I had consulted know about the prints and, therefore, the missing picture? Anyway, my friend kept it for decades, but in 2007 he sold it to the National Gallery of Scotland where it hangs to this day.

The moral of the story is… be patient and back your own judgement.

Helen Bradley (1900-1979)

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Many of us promise ourselves that we will take up painting in retirement, few of us ever do and even fewer stick at it and only a tiny few achieve commercial and critical success with their Art. Helen Bradley was one of these tiny few and in her own uniquely British way she created a whole new life for herself with her Art when at the age of 65 she began painting pictures each one recalling a memory of her Edwardian childhood. To begin with her paintings were a way for her to show her grandchildren just how different a place the world was for her as a child in the Edwardian Era.

Born in 1900 Helen Bradley was like the late Queen Mother, the same age as the century she lived in. She was born in Lees just outside Oldham in Lancashire and showed enough early artistic talent for her to study Art but only for one year from 1913, when as for so many others the Great War intervened stopping her art studies in their tracks , then marriage and children followed.

At first glance you might think that Helen Bradley’s paintings look a little like L S Lowry’s figure compositions, however she had her own unique style and technique just as Lowry has his. Indeed the two artists met early on in Bradley’s career, they got on well and Lowry continued to encourage Bradley in her work and the two developed a firm friendship. Neither artist followed or was influenced by the other and both held a strong admiration for each other’s work.

The majority of Bradley’s figure pictures depict specific remembered events and are often accompanied by a story handwritten in biro on a parcel label and usually attached to the back of the picture. These notes explain to some extent what the viewer is looking at in the composition and the characters, Bradley sets the scene for us to share her memories and individual characters the most famous of which is Miss Carter . This excerpt from her online biography explains a little about her characters.

She mixed a little pink colour, she painted the dress of a tiny figure. From that moment was created the enchanting land that was to delight millions. The figure she painted was that of Miss Carter (who wore pink) who features in most of Helen Bradley’s paintings. Other characters you will find are her mother, grandmother, her three maiden aunts, Mr Taylor (the bank manager) Helen herself with brother George and their dogs Gyp and Barney and many others.

These narrative paintings were first exhibited at The Saddleworth Art Society in 1965, followed by a London exhibition in 1966, and a sell out exhibition at the appropriately named Carter Gallery in Los Angeles in 1968.

In 1971 Jonathan Cape published the first of four books “And Miss Carter Wore Pink”. This was an instant success. German, French, Dutch and Japanese editions were published, and a special edition produced for the U.S.A.

Requests for illustrations of her work were satisfied by the publication of 30 Signed Limited Edition Prints, 3 Unsigned Limited Edition Prints and 11 Open Edition Prints.

Magazine features, appearances on television and radio endeared Bradley to the general public and led to her being awarded the M.B.E. for services to the arts, unfortunately she died on the 19th of July 1979 shortly before she was due to receive her M.B.E. from Her Majesty The Queen.

The market for Helen Bradley’s work is very well established and her work is regularly available at auction and in galleries and I hope that this little snapshot will whet your appetite for further investigation perhaps even a purchase. To start with you could consider buying one of her beautifully illustrated books of story pictures, all are out of print but are available online or in specialist galleries for around £15 to 30, the signed limited edition prints start at around £350.

The Queen’s Portraits

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Throughout history the Crown has used portraiture to define and promote its official image – the image which each successive monarch chooses to portray itself to the Nation. These images, whether they show the monarch as a great head of State, or as a triumphant military leader or even as the embodiment of middle-class values, have eventually come to define the visual culture of each passing generation.

On 9th September this year, Elizabeth II became the nation’s longest-reigning monarch, surpassing her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. Throughout her long reign the Queen has overseen the greatest political and social changes this county has ever seen. She was born into a country which still sat at the centre of a global empire, and during her reign she oversaw the evolution of the Commonwealth of Nations.

The United Kingdom has emerged from a post Edwardian society to a vibrant, modern, multi-culture one. All this in one lifetime.

From Cecil Beaton to Pietro Annigoni, from Andy Warhol to Lucian Freud, and more recently Jamie Reid to Chris Levine – Britain’s longest reigning monarch has been painted by some of the greatest artists of her time, with each image recording the ever-evolving relationship between the Queen and her people. But what is unique about the Queen’s portraits in the history of royal portraiture, is that her face has been appropriated to become an icon of popular culture. She is both a Queen, a Pop icon and a defining symbol of punk subversiveness!

In celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee, we have put together a short survey of the Queen’s most famous portraits throughout her reign.

Cecil Beaton

The fashion designer, Cecil Beaton, was unusually chosen to take the official coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth on June 2, 1954. The image he created came to define the first decade of the Queen’s reign and symbolised the new Elizabethan age she heralded in. At its heart, the image is fundamentally rooted in the tradition of Royal portraiture, with the Queen shown in all the majesty of her Coronation robes – with the Imperial State Crown on her head and the orb and sceptre in her hands. Beaton manages to capture the Queen as both intensely royal but also yet somewhat vulnerable due to her youth.

Interestingly, whilst this is an intensely traditional image, the medium of photography with which it was created, together with Beaton’s visual trickery also makes it a surprisingly modern one. Although the image appears at first glance to be set in Westminster Abbey, the photographer actually employed a theatrical backdrop for the photo, which was taken in a drawing room at Buckingham Palace.

Pietro Annigoni

In 1954, two years after her coronation, the Italian artist Pietro Annigoni painted the first of his two famous portraits of the Queen. Commissioned by the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers in London, the painting is universally considered the most beautiful ever painted of her and is the queen’s known favourite. The artist shows the beautiful young queen in the magnificent robes of the ancient Order of the Garter and set within a beautiful Italianate landscape worthy of any Renaissance master. The resulting image is a supremely elegant and glamorous one, which has appeared on stamps and currency in British dependencies across the world.

 

In 1969, at the request of the Queen, the National Portrait Gallery in London, commissioned Annigoni to paint her portrait again. This time, however, the artists decided not to paint her as a glamorous young monarch, but rather as a much more remote Regal figure, silhouette starkly against an almost abstracted background. As the artist said himself, “I did not want to paint her as a film star, I saw her as a monarch, alone in the problems of her responsibility,” said the artist of the striking difference.

Jamie Reid

The 1970s saw Punk Rock explode onto the British scene. Anti-establishment and anarchic, Punk challenged everything the previous generation held dear, and its influence was truly global. How ironic then, that one of Punk’s greatest images is Jamie Reid’s famous Sex Pistol’s album cover showing the Queen superimposed across the Union Jack! The figure head of the Establishment being used to subvert itself. To this day, it is one of the most influential images of the Queen of all time.

Andy Warhol

In 1985, the king of Pop Art Andy Warhol, produced his Reigning Queen’s portfolio of prints – a set of 16 portraits of the world’s four reigning Queens – Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands, Queen Ntombi Twala of Swaziland and of course, our Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

Warhol chose to depict these female monarchs, as powerful matriarchs – queens who ruled in their own right and were not queens through marriage. These portraits represent independent female authority, a different view on femininity in comparison to Warhol’s portraits of the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Billy Boy.

Lucien Freud

In 2001 one of Britain’s greatest living painters, Lucien Freud, painted his tiny but highly controversial portraits of the Queen. Originally meant to depict the Queen informally without a crown or tiara, Freud had to subsequently expand the canvas by 3.5cm when he decided to include the 1820 Diamond Diadem! Without doubt the most controversial
of all the Queen’s portraits, this tiny work has divided audiences since it was first exhibited. Whilst certainly not one of her Majesty’s most flattering portraits, the way that Freud has disregarded the entire tradition of Royal portraits is certainly unique.

Alison Jackson

Whatever next – the Queen taking selfies?! Well not quite! This faux royal family selfie is the work of Alison Jackson, a British photographer who has made her reputation creating convincing personal photos of intimate moments experienced by British celebrities using look alike actors. Alison Jackson’s genius lies in her ability to cast convincing doppelganger actors in the role of her famous sitters in entirely convincing, yet fake situations. One can only guess that Her Majesty must get a kick out of such fun…..the Queen as a social media savvy influencer monarch!

Chris Levine

In 2004, British artist Chris Levine created what can only be described as a modern classic when he produced his, Lightness of Being portrait of the Queen. The work which he produced in various formats, shows the Queen beautifully dressed in white fur and pearls, wearing the 1820 Diamond Diadem. However, what is disarming about the image is that the Queen is depicted with her eyes closed in contemplation.

The artist explained how the image came about, “I wanted the Queen to feel peaceful, so I asked her to rest between shots; this was a moment of stillness that just happened.” The resulting image is indeed peaceful and calm, yet it is also full of gravity and power – a monarch who has reigned over us for 70 years.

Constable at the V&A

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Last month I was given the most wonderful treat. I started my morning in the V&A picture rooms, looking at the Turners and Constables in the Sheepshank Bequest. How his descendants must hate his philanthropy; there are hundreds of millions of pounds worth of paintings hanging there.

Then I moved on to the Isabel Constable Bequest. Isabel was the last surviving child of John Constable and in September 1888 gifted the residual contents of her father’s studio to the Museum. There are 395 oil paintings, sketches, drawings, watercolours and sketchbooks in the bequest, of which a mere twenty odd were on view.

However, I had the good fortune to be taken behind the scenes to the secure lock-up, where the others are stored, by Emily Knight, daughter of my old friend Richard Knight (ex-head of Old Masters at Christie’s, London), who curates these treasures for the Museum.

I am particularly interested in Constable’s oil sketches, most of which were painted out of doors and many inscribed with a specific date and time of day, revealing much about his working practices. Here I was, backstage, taking them off the racks and holding them in my hands for a closer look. I have done this sort of thing before, so they were perfectly safe! Nevertheless, to be holding such precious objects in my hands was a great privilege. Sketches by constable can make seven figure sums these days.

Oil sketches were not always so precious, well not in commercial terms anyway. Constable never sold any, but he had been sketching in oil from around 1802, for example “Dedham Vale: Evening” when he was 27 and was particularly active from 1808 onwards. In his lifetime they were not considered independent works of art, by John Constable or any of his contemporaries, but formed a database of scenes he felt worthy of recording, which might be used as inspiration for large easel pictures in the future. He was an inveterate recorder of things around him and travelled with a large and small sketchbook and pencil everywhere he went, even on honeymoon! He is famous for saying that he never saw an ugly thing in nature and no man has ever devoted his life to portraying the landscape of his childhood with as much passion and brilliance as John Constable did. Indeed, it is the brilliance of these vivacious and spontaneous oil sketches dashed off on card, paper, strips of canvas, wood, or whatever came to hand, that chimes so well with modern taste. When trying to catch the play of light, as a rainstorm passes over the sea, as in “Weymouth Bay” of 1816, Constable does not have time to conform to the painting style of his own age, as a result of which, his oil sketches are timeless.

A selection of these dynamic little paintings is about to leave for an exhibition in Romania and then on to further venues in Eastern Europe. I was glad to have the chance to see them before they go and wish them bon voyage.

Marilyn Monroe – Shot Sage Blue Marilyn

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She was THE film star of her day, and at the auction on 9th May 2022 at Christie’s New York, she proved that her star power was as strong as ever!

In under four minutes of bidding, Andy Warhol’s 1964 painting of Marilyn Monroe, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, sold for $195,000,000 to an unknown buyer, making it the highest price achieved for any American work of art at auction – comfortably beating the world record of $110,500,000 that Basquiat’s Untitled, 1982 made at a Sotheby’s auction in New York in 2017.

Described as ‘the most significant 20th-century painting to come to auction in a generation’, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn is one of only 5 works Warhol produced in this series – each in different colour variations.

The paintings were stored at The Factory, his studio on East 47th Street, Manhattan. It was here that the artist, Dorothy Podber, stopped by and asked Warhol if she could “shoot” them. Presuming she meant with a camera, he said yes, but instead she pulled out a revolver and shot all but the turquoise print in the forehead! Warhol had the four paintings restored and they became known as the “Shot Marilyns.”

The work was the undoubted and much-anticipated star lot of the Christie’s Monday sale, which itself kicked off New York’s spring season of mega auctions. As such, it was always going to attract huge interest, eventually selling to Larry Gagosian for an undisclosed client.

The sale itself was made up of 36 lots consigned from the estate of the legendary Swiss dealers Thomas and Doris Ammann, with all of the proceeds going toward their foundation, which supports health care and educational programs for children. Interestingly and very old school in approach, none of the works were backed by financial guarantees, which is a system whereby the auction houses provide sellers with a minimum price at which a third party or the auction house has committed to purchase the work even if it fails to sell on the day.

Perhaps a risky approach one might think, however, after 2 years of pent-up demand from collectors, and with huge amounts of money sloshing around, and with such star works on offer, it was a risk well worth taking, with the overall sale achieving $318,000,000 for the Ammann charitable foundation. Lucky them!

It all goes to show that quality will always win out, and the best works will always achieve the strongest prices. That said, having Marilyn on your side can’t hurt either!

London Art Business Conference Report

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Jonathan Horwich at the London Art Business Conference

Jonathan Horwich, Modern & Contemporary specialist reports on the London Art Business Conference, 25 March 2002.

The scene was set as I entered the Gothic gateway into Deans Yard, behind me was Westminster Abbey and opening out in front of me was Westminster School to my left and in the air Westminster Abbey choir practising for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Memorial service for the following week. It felt and sounded a bit like a scene from a Harry Potter film as I walked up to the Church House were, after two years, finally we’re all back together again enjoying some proper face to face communication, which is so important in the Art world.

On arrival I bumped into Melanie Gerlis, the conference chair who is a powerhouse presenter and well able to hold the attention of a room full of noisy Art professionals. Melanie gave the opening address which was followed by a panel discussion on Sustainability and the Art World. The panel included Chris Bentley from AXA, speaking about sustainably insuring art in transit; Tom Woolston from Christie’s spoke about his firm’s 10 years to net zero programme. Imogen Prus from shippers Convelio spoke about new materials and methods of shipping and their plans to reduce the use of air transport. Lastly Cliodhna Murphy the Director of sustainability at International Contemporary Art dealers.

Hauser and Wirth spoke about their plans to reduce the galleries carbon footprint.

Louisa Buck from the Art Newspaper was moderating the discussions which focussed on reducing air travel which is the most significant and heavy polluter. The aim is to try and reduce movement of art by air, the majority of which is for auctions and travelling exhibitions, while at the same time not depressing the market. It’s a hard trick to pull off, there were discussions about moving art by sea container which comes with its own difficulties. The captain of the ship has the right to move or worse remove any container on board even if it is full of valuable pictures. However, I think we can look forward confidently to significant changes in sustainability for shipping in the art world going forward.

This was followed by an inspiring all-female discussion panel outlining just how extraordinarily quickly the African Contemporary Art market has moved up in value in very recent years, up 44% since 2020! particularly at Sotheby’s who only began selling in this category in 2016 following the arrival of the extraordinarily hard working and dedicated specialist, Hannah O’Leary. Not only is she running Sotheby’s very successful auctions in this category but she is also traveling the world, leading fundraising initiatives across Africa & Europe to enable artists to have access to safe living and studio accommodation, so they can just focus on making art.

Our next panel was also an all-female panel discussion on ‘women innovating in art’ with new tech. and finance. Stacie McCormack talked about her App, FairartFair, which enables you to buy art direct online via virtual exhibitions and studios tours all at very reasonable prices with no commission, it’s an amazing App. which is continuously evolving.

Anna Lowe of Smartify was a very inspiring speaker, she set up the app Smartify from scratch, the app allows you to take a photograph of any work of art in any museum and it will instantly identify the piece and give you the artists name and work details whatever and wherever it is in the world you’re looking at… the app was developed hand in hand with all the museums cooperation so they have embraced the idea and are moving away from earphone headset guides that you have to hand in at the end of your tour.

Smartify enables you to know what you are looking at and retains the art you saw on every trip so when you get home you can share the images and details in all the usual ways from any trip. The museum can use the App to see how popular their museum is in real time and also which are their exhibits are the most popular. I spoke to Anna later and she told me she is looking for new investment for the expansion of Smartify.

Rebecca Fine told us about her business, Athena Finance, they loan against owned art in order to allow owners to have liquidity on demand.

The final panel discussion on NFT’s was another fascinating session, with a strong cross-section of panel members including Xin Li-Cohen (founder of TR Lab, an NFT portal)

Alex Estorick (founder, right-click-save) who for some inexplicable reason had shaved his head and was wearing a bright green freebee tennis sweat band) Joe Kennedy (Unit London) and Brendan Dawes (NFT artist).

Alex’s presentation was an extraordinary tour de force, his app ‘right click save’ really led us through the pluses and minuses of NFT’s and his depth of knowledge and grasp of the details was quite extraordinary.

Joe Kennedy of unit London similarly is involved in NFT’s and was a contrast to Alex in his description and very engaging. Brendan Dawes the NFT artist was a revelation, he told us that as an artist, NFT’s have absolutely transformed his life, he was no longer thinking how to pay his bills, he was now very comfortably off, making art and engaging with his collectors, often one-to-one through the website ‘discord’ that enables collectors to communicate directly with Brendan and other NFT artist. He did say that it sometimes can be quite exhausting but stimulating, after an hour with 1000 voices asking you questions you really need a lie down!

Xin Li-Cohen (TR Lab) was personally involved in advising Chinese clients on the record breaking $69 million sale of Beeple’s NFT ‘5,000 days’ sold at Christie’s New York in 2021. She founded TR lab after the auction to sell NFT’s. Brendan Dawes is one of TR Lab’s top artists.

The NFT and Contemporary African art panels were highlights for me, however the whole event was wonderfully run and gave out very positive vibes confirming that the Art World is busy getting back to normal…