32 19th June 2010 master pictures Still drawing the crowds
■ How the quieter end of the picture trade came into its own
Anna Brady reports
IN the late 1990s, as a relative newcomer to the trade, Old Master drawings dealer Crispian Riley-Smith hired John Mitchell’s gallery on Old Bond Street for a couple of shows.
“I could see people were interested but they still walked past, possibly because they were intimidated. Getting them actually into the gallery was difficult,” says Yorkshire-based Crispian. He deals predominantly in Old Master drawings from the 15th to the 19th centuries, but has recently started to include some contemporary works.
A little over ten years ago, he gathered a clutch of London’s drawings dealers together for lunch. Here he mooted the idea of launching an annual Master Drawings Week, a dealer-led initiative borrowing its format from such successes as Paris’ Semaine du Dessinand Asian Art London. Nearly all those present agreed to give it a go. And so was born the idea for something more proactive for what has traditionally been a rather passive, quieter corner of the trade. As has been said before, for both Master Drawings Week– later Master Drawings London– and Master Paintings Week, launched last year to much acclaim, accessibility is the buzzword.
The basic premise is simple: get everyone to open their doors at the same time and actively welcome people in. And by timing the week to coincide with London’s major sales of Old Master and 19th century pictures, the dealers can be more certain of attracting the right clientele.
Drawings whisper, rather than shout, and their subtlety can mean that when put in a large, bustling fair environment where they must compete against more immediately imposing paintings and furniture, they can get a little lost. So it made sense to Crispian and the 14 other dealers who took part in that first Master Drawings Weekin 2001 that drawings would be better served in the more personal environs of their own, or hired, galleries. In 2007, Master Drawings New York was spawned, copying the London model, with several dealers taking part in both events, including Crispian Riley-Smith, Stephen Ongpin and Lowell Libson, to name but three. The whole Master
Drawings initiative is non-profit making and its management team is kept fairly lean, with just Crispian, Cawdell Douglas (the PR company who have been with MDWsince the outset) and a small committee overseeing the organisation. It is perhaps not a natural instinct for dealers to act in unison, and Crispian does not deny that competition is fierce; “Professionally it is a very small, competitive and therefore difficult market, and the constant search for new quality material is tough.” But, he also feels that “if you’re not out actively educating and encouraging your market, you won’t sell things”.
It must say something about the
efficacy of this event that many of this year’s 21 participating galleries have taken part in the event each year since its inception in 2001.
So, how to tackle this year’s 21 exhibitions, offering everything from Old Master to contemporary drawings? “Not everyone goes to every show,” says Crispian, “and most dealers specialise in
works from a particular period or country, so study the map and catalogue beforehand to see who most appeals to your interests.”
But to whet your appetite, here are a few appealing morsels to give a taste of what is on offer this year. Last year, Master Drawings London flung its net a little wider when the Bloomsbury dealers Abbott and Holder decided to join in, a good decision as it turned out as their exhibition of Keith Vaughan drawings sold out in 45 minutes, and they also sold a group of 20 watercolours of the 1839 Eglinton
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