Cathy's Art Diary

Fun annual art fair at the Mall Galleries   run by experienced art dealers. I’ve been to this show before and enjoyed it. I think it was a bit smaller this year but it still had a good mix of galleries with a nice selection of work at a variety of prices. Highlights this year were some nice Augustus John etchings, lovely still-lives by Anne Songhurst and an a-typical Peter Blake of a rose in a vase. My favourite piece was a John Piper sketch of a London bomb site in wonderful colours. A beautiful thing coming from devastation. Closed 26 March 2023

Fun art fair at the Mall Galleries combining contemporary and fine art in a friendly environment. This show bills itself as “the art fair staged by dealers for art lovers” and it was a great chance to get to know some new galleries and artists. A number of the galleries were from outside London so I had not come across them before. A lot of prices were quite reasonable but there was some more high end prices. The most expensive piece I spotted was a David Hockney print at £60,000.   I loved Elizabeth Harvey-Lees lovely display of prints including some Old Master works and had an interesting conversation on Stephen Lacey Modern and Contemporaries stall about Patricia Preece, Stanley Spencer’s second wife. I discovered lots of artists who were new to me too from Colin Willey’s seascapes, one of which illustrates this story, Anne Songhurst’s hyper-real still lives and Melissa Scott Miller’s urban landscapes. I’ll definitely look out for this show again next year. Closed 27 ...