Cathy's Art Diary

Excellent online symposium from London Art Week looking at the role of Jewish dealers in the late 19th and early 20th century art market. Over three one hour sessions and with an array of good speakers we were guided through aspects of the subject. Day one looked at how Jews influenced the growth of Modernism in this period. Charles Denhiem who has written a book on the topic said that, with the growth in interest in Nazi stolen art, he didn’t want to see Jews as victims but wanted to know how they played a part in the art market in the first place. Why did they have the art that was taken? Day two looked specifically at the dealer Asher Wertheimer and how he commissioned portraits of his whole family from John Singer Sargent which he then left to the National Gallery. They are currently on display at Tate Britain and I blogged the display recently. Speakers discussed the reasons both for their commissioning and donation as well as talking us through some of the works and the cont...

Engaging live streamed lecture from The Charterhouse with Philip Mould looking at his life in art. Mould took 5 or 6 pictures to take us through his art dealing life from his early work with a genealogist buying pictures of names people and tracing their descendants through to a recent discovery of a portrait of Winston Churchill painted during the Blitz when it had been said that he didn’t do this. He talked about how the internet has changed his business making research easier as more archives go online however also how buying has become easier but also more dangerous. He told a story against himself of buying an Elizabethan portrait online which he realised had been 75% overpainted in recent times. He described the picture underneath as a “glorified pub sign”. He answered a range of questions from the live audience with much mention of “Fake or Fortune” and touchingly he seemed genuinely moved when given a gift at the end of a bowl made of part of a cherry tree in the grounds...