The London Art Fair (until 22 January), billed as "the UK's premier Modern British and contemporary art fair", opened its doors to VIPs and collectors yesterday (17 January), who began trickling in during the early hours of the afternoon. Visiting luminaries included the dealer Daniel Katz and his son Robin, and Wentworth Beaumont, the co-founder of art consultancy Beaumont Nathan. But unlike many other fairs in the capital which predominantly cater for single slices of the market—be it the top end or the middle—this fair has taken a much wider aim. Works on offer range from £600 etchings to six-figure prints by Warhol (who, by the way, is technically not a Modern or contemporary British artist), while average prices seem to hover around the mid-to-low five figure mark. It may seem a little schizophrenic but it also makes for a refreshingly different experience. Robert Travers, whose gallery Piano Nobile is a stalwart of the fair, says it has always attracted “a strong local clientele that is different from the ‘Masterpiece crowd’, although we have met billionaires here”. Among the works on offer at his stand is a striking painting by the British painter John Armstrong, Spring (1944), priced at £46,000. Also worth seeing is a mini-exhibition of the Ingram Collection, which has teamed up with the Lightbox museum, Woking, to present a small selection of British masterpieces including a mesmerising work by John Tunnard, titled Messenger (1969), and pieces by Barbara Hepworth and Richard Burra. Rule Britannia indeed.
