A Poet and A Player

Highlights of Masterpiece London 2017; open until 5^th July and a ‘must visit’ for both the collectors and the curious

Masterpiece London is now in its eighth year and well established as a fixture on the city’s social calendar. Yesterday’s preview brought together a mixture of everyone from David Dickinson to Jay Rutland and Tania Bryer to Princess Michael of Kent and with everything from Eygyptian bronze cats on David Aaron’s stand to a Riva yacht, this is an art and antiques fair that has something for everyone – be it, we hasten to add, just everyone with many thousands if not many millions to spare.

Collisart, LLC of New York – run by the delightful duo Frederick D. Hill and his daughter Daisy Hill Sanders – returns with amongst other things, a work by the New Jersey born urban realist painter Everett Shinn. Depicting several of his contemporaries playing pool in New York, this pastel on brown paper is priced at £366,000 ($475,000, €416,000 or درهم1.7 million) and is described as “presenting a typical ‘downtown’ working man’s scene.”

On Trinity House’s stand, aside from a Munnings and a Stubbs, a particular highlight is a black crayon drawing of the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova by Amedeo Modigliani. Priced at £550,000 ($714,000, €626,000 or درهم2.6 million), the work is to be exhibited at the Tate Modern from November 2017 to April 2018 and is one of sixteen images of this “raven haired and ravishingly beautiful” woman by the artist.

Masterpiece London, South Grounds, The Royal Hospital Chelsea, London, SW3 4LW is open until 5^th July.