Cathy's Art Diary

Interesting online discussion as part of London Art Week focusing on the 17th century portrait artists Mary Beale. Christopher Baker of the Burlington magazine chaired a discussion between two curators who had produced shows on Beale, Lucy West of Dulwich Picture Gallery and Ellie Smith of Philip Mould & Co. Smith focused on the life of Beale and took us through themes in her show which was on at the time at Philip Mould & Co and I have since been to see it.   She talked about how Beale made her money from commissioned work but also painted her family and friends often using them to experiment with new material and ideas. West looked back to show on Beale’s studio from a couple of years ago which focused on her technique and the experiments of her husband, Charles, who was a pigment expert and salesman. She talked about his notebooks which documented the work of the studio. It was fun to hear the speakers discussing Beale’s work which they had obviously grown to lo...

Fascinating online discussion from London Art Week bringing together a panel of younger dealers to talk about how the idea of ‘sleepers’ in the art market is changing. The speakers talked about how it is becoming harder to find traditional ‘sleepers’ ie unrecognised Old Masters with better promotion of auctions online making it easier for more people to see what is available which can push prices up on potential finds. They then each introduced works they had acquired recently by artists they felt should be better known and explained how it was more about discovering stories that particular works. They also discussed issues you can face when researching such as women who change their name when they marry. Will Elliot of Elliott Fine Art mentioned a selection of artists but I loved the picture I use here by Lily Steiner who worked in Vienna and Paris. He talked about how you can also add value by identifying a sitter which he has not yet done in this case. Ellie Smith of Philip...