Galleries - September 2018

Saatchi Gallery in Chelsea and re- brand it simply the British Art Fair, and you have a pretty substantial shifting of the gears. One thing hasn't changed though and that's the fact that Gay Hutson is staying on to initially guide the Fair's new owners as it embarks on its next 30 years while, at the same time, most of the Fair's key galleries over the years – some 50 of them – are still very much present too. A morphing rather than a revolution perhaps. See our Fair feature on page 32 for who and what's on in more detail. Nicholas Usherwood Kings (and those in waiting) have done London’s public art shows proud this year – King Charles I’s lavish collection was displayed in fitting grand style at the Royal Academy earlier in the year (Titian, Holbein, Dürer, Van Dyck, Rubens et al). And now – on a more informal note is Prince Charles’ personal art collection on show at Buckingham Palace as part of the ‘summer opening’ and to mark his 70th birthday in November. Personal it certainly is with many family portraits including Michael Noakes’ striking portraits of the Queen in 1972 and the Queen Mother in 1973, both in shades of azure blue, the Duchess of Cornwall by Eileen Hogan, a dashing triple portrait of Charles by Susan Crawford and a pair of preparatory sketches of Princes Harry and William by Nicky Philipps. These hang alongside the many pictures which must have caught his eye or been passed on from earlier royal generations – spot the Lucian Freud ‘Bowl of Ferns’ and ‘Study of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’ by Sir Edwin Landseer, charming in its apparently unfinished state. All this amid decorative artworks, furniture and textiles, alongside the framed family photos and wedding portraits standing on desks and dressers with favourite books and even coffee mugs. The other story here is the work of artists supported by three of the Prince’s charities including The Royal Drawing School. ‘Prince and Patron’ is on until 30 September and if you haven’t done the Palace tour yet, join the tourist throng and bask in the splendour of this grand landmark building, its interiors and garden. Maggi Taylor AND FINALLY. . . See the Galleries’ selected print prize winner at the National Original Print Exhibition, 19 to 30 September, Bankside Gallery. abstraction to photo-realist portraits and 3D sculptural drawings, in pencil and charcoal, pastel and graphite, the works on show here reveal how powerfully this most traditional of mediums has held its own in an age of computerised drawing programmes. With prize money at £12,500, this represents substantial sponsorship on Derwent's part too; they may have manufactured the first pencils in their Keswick factory in 1832 (very advanced technology for its time) but they are no slouches when it comes to competing in a world market. They are still making pencils in this country, no longer at Keswick (their original factory now the Derwent Pencil Museum) but in nearby Workington. In short a tradition staying alive by keeping in touch with its artistic roots. It's been a somewhat tumultuous year in the history of that venerable champion of Modern British Art, the British Art Fair – aka 20/21 British Art Fair; its 30th year in business not only marking the decision of the co-organisers and, effectively its founders, Gay Hutson and Bunny Wynn, to sell the fair on to Robert and Johnny Sandelson but also the subsequent sad death of Bunny in June. Add to that a decision to move the show on from its 2017 home at the Mall Galleries to the larger SEPTEMBER 2018 GALLERIES 11 from left F iona Grady ‘Slipping II’ The Cello Factory Laura Guoke ‘There you are the journey has already begun’ Derwent Art Prize, Mall Galleries John Craxton ‘Seated Figure in a Café’ Osborne Samuel, British Art Fair, Saatchi Gallery Sir Edwin Landseer ‘A Study of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’ © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Royal Collection Trust Buckingham Palace Lydia Corbett ‘Bremen Sylvette’, Adrian Hill Fine Art, Mall Galleries A rt apparent Fair treatment