Lavery studio hosts artists of today
A new studio will open following a major refurbishment at a gallery hub in Kensington.
The facility in Cromwell Place opened last year and its artist and dealer members have access to 15 exhibition spaces.
The latest to be unveiled is the refurbished Lavery studio. The space is the former studio of Irish painter Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) which has undergone extensive refurbishment.
It will be able to host exhibitions from January 2022. The first planned show by a Cromwell Place member is the Gilbert Bayes Award presented by the Royal Society of Sculptors from March 14-27.
Lavery created many of his works in the London studio and it was also the site for the final negotiations which led to the signing of the Anglo-Irish treaty.
John and Hazel Lavery frequently hosted their friends and acquaintances thee including Michael Collins, Sir Winston Churchill, Auguste Rodin, King George V, WB Yates and James Abbott McNeill Whistler.
Salon du Dessin now postponed
The Salon du Dessin – initially planned for March 23-28, 2022 – has been postponed. The 30th edition of the event has been rescheduled to May 18-23, 2022, at the Palais Brongniart in Paris.
Ex-Christie’s duo appeal for mentees
Former Christie’s executives Cat Manson and Caroline Sayan’s initiative, Art Market Mentors, is open for mentee applications for 2022.
The group provides support for more junior art market professionals by linking up with established members of the industry. It is looking for mentees to join the programme who will receive up to three hours mentoring between January and April this year with a seasoned, industry professional. It also runs group mentoring sessions to explore different career paths.
Contact them via Instagram on @artmarketmentors
Cultural gifts art list announced
The Arts Council published its Cultural Gifts Scheme and Acceptance in Lieu Annual Report 2020/21 revealing artworks and objects with a value of £54m had been accepted for the nation and allocated to museums across the UK.
Of the cultural objects allocated in this report, 70% were acquired by institutions outside London.
It also revealed that more than 80% of the total tax settled was accounted for by objects that had been allocated outside London.
High-profile artworks allocated across the two schemes were Sir Anthony Van Dyck’s oil painting Portrait of a Woman (1621-27) which has been allocated to Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow; JMW Turner’s Walton Bridge which goes to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, Mary Fedden sketchbooks heading to the Tate and a watercolour, Girl with Butterflies, by Glasgow School member Frances MacDonald MacNair which went to The Hunterian Museum and Gallery.
Institutions which have received objects for the first time include The Lowry in Salford; Judges’ Lodgings Museum in Lancaster; Wallingford Museum in Oxfordshire and the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Export bar placed on prince portrait
Portrait of Prince William, later King William IV of Great Britain (1765-1837), by Benjamin West, 1781. The 21 x 17in (53 x 43cm) oil on canvas has been temporarily blocked from export.
An export block has been placed on a portrait of the future King William IV, painted during the American Revolutionary war, in the hope a UK buyer can be found.
The picture was sold at Sotheby’s Old Masters Evening auction on July 7 and an export licence applied for.
It sold as part of the property of Lord Digby from Minterne House, for a premium-inclusive £302,400 but £314,880 will need to be raised (which includes other fees and VAT) to secure it.
The portrait depicts the young Prince William, the third son of George III, wearing his midshipman’s uniform on the quarterdeck of the Prince George during the American Revolutionary War.
American painter Benjamin West, who created the portrait, was appointed historical painter to George III from 1772, and this is among the most original of his works.
The decision on the export licence application for the painting will be deferred until March 16, 2022. A second deferral period will commence following the signing of an option agreement with the owners that will last for three months.
Most read
The most viewed stories for week December 16-22 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 Export stop for Fromanteel’s £3m longcase
2 Historic library connected to Brontë family saved for the nation in £15.3m purchase with help from Britain’s richest man
3 Sitwell seat sells very well
4 Nuremberg Trials sketch by Laura Knight in our pick of five auction highlights
5 An Art Nouveau butterfly-shaped screen and a three-piece Georgian silver tea set are among four lots to watch
In Numbers
92%
The proportion of bids at Sotheby’s in 2021 that were placed online, according to the auction house’s year in review statement published last month.
