Highlights of the London Art Week 2018: 5,000 Years of Historic and Remarkable Works of Art
There is not better introduction to passion, power and politics in the History of Art than the London Art Week Summer 2018 hosting Exhibitions, Auctions and Events in Mayfair and St. James’s. All of free entrance. Enjoy El Greco, Rubens, Tintoretto and Gainsborough before they go back into private hands. It illustrates the extraordinary range and quality of art dating from antiquity to the 20th century available on the market and strongly underlines the unrivalled connoisseurship and expertise to be found in the city. Each summer, London Art Week provides a platform for more than 40 leading international art dealers to present exciting selling exhibitions, engaging events and art talks, at private galleries in Mayfair and St. James’s. The exhibitions coincide with the Old Master paintings and drawings sales at the major auction houses, and attract countless collectors, connoisseurs and museum curators to the capital.
HIGHLIGHTS
- El Greco at Colnaghi and Four Centuries of Spanish and Italian Drawings 1550–1950 curated by Artur Ramon Art also at Colnaghi
Founded in 1760, Colnaghi is among the oldest and most important galleries in the history of the art market. The gallery initially established itself in London as the premier dealer of prints, but by the end of the 19th century it had begun dealing in Old Master paintings and drawings. Colnaghi soon developed important relationships with museums in Europe and with a new generation of collectors in America, including Isabella Stewart Gardener, Henry Clay Frick, Robert Sterling Clark, and Andrew W. Mellon. As Colnaghi’s ties to the museum world strengthened so did its commitment to scholarship — a commitment that remains a priority today. Throughout its long and varied history, Colnaghi has successfully evolved and adapted to changes in the market. The latest shift came in 2015, when Konrad Berheimer, Colnaghi’s owner, launched a partnership with Jorge Coll and Nicolas Cortés, who had established themselves as a major force in the market for traditional art through their eponymous gallery. With this new partnership, Colnaghi has further strengthened its dedication to scholarship through the development of new academic publications and the presentation of even more diversified works of art. Colnaghi and Coll & Cortés continue to establish new ties to the museum world in Europe and the U.S., working with museums to advance their acquisitions and collections goals.
- Faces and Fashion at The Weiss Gallery
Among highlights at this specialist in Tudor, Stuart and Northern European Old Master portraiture is an imperious three-quarter-length portrait of An Unknown Spanish Noble Woman by Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569–1622) bedecked in flowing strings of pearls and elaborate lace ruffs,c1603–1604. The Weiss Gallery is the leading dealer in Tudor, Stuart and North European Old Master portraiture
- Rubens at Sotheby’s
A rare Portrait of a Venetian Nobleman by Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640), one of the all-time greats of Western art, unseen on the market for 60 years, that will spearhead Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings sale in London on 4 July 2018. Sotheby’s has been uniting collectors with world-class works of art since 1744. Sotheby’s became the first international auction house when it expanded from London to New York (1955), the first to conduct sales in Hong Kong (1973), India (1992) and France (2001), and the first international fine art auction house in China (2012). Today, Sotheby’s presents auctions in ten different salesrooms, including New York, London, Hong Kong and Paris, and Sotheby’s BidNow programme allows visitors to view all auctions live online and place bids from anywhere in the world.
Benappi Fine Art are leading dealers in Italian and European Old Master paintings and sculpture, working with private collectors and major museums in Europe and the United States. Benappi have been an established institution in Turin for four generations and opened its new gallery space in Dover street in time for its inaugural exhibition of the summer edition of London Art Week 2017. This summer Benappi will be showing important Italian paintings and works of art ranging from the 16th to the early 20th Century.
- Watteau to Gauguin: French Drawings of the 18th and 19th Centuries at Stephen Ongpin Fine Art
A Seated Young Woman by James Jacques-Joseph Tissot
60 drawings by 18th and 19th century French artists including Boucher, Fragonard, Gericault, Huet, Ingres, Millet, Renoir and Watteau: many of the drawings come from private collections; several will be published for the first time in the scholarly catalogue that accompanies the exhibition. Stephen Ongpin has nearly thirty years of experience as a dealer in Old Master, 19th and 20th century drawings.
A full programme of events, exhibition map and opening times is available at www.londonartweek.co.uk
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