London's pre-contemporary art market gets boost from two new summer events
Meanwhile, at Spencer House in St James’s, Studiolo, a showcase for art, antiquities and sculpture, sets up for one day only on 26 June. This bijou, polished pop-up has been founded by Sebastien Paraskevas and Alesa Boyle who in 2023, along with Tom Nevile, co-founded Trois Crayons, the specialist drawings and works on paper group selling exhibition. The second edition of Trois Crayons, titled Tracing Time, also opens this week, running from 26 June to 5 July at Frieze No.9 Cork Street, with 35 participating galleries showing over 250 drawings from the 15th to 21st centuries.
Studiolo’s concept has shades of The Eye of the Collector events, now "on pause", but with a shorter run and more historical focus. Studiolo has been produced in partnership with the interior design firm Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler, who will take the creative lead for the display. The Studiolo founders have brought on Amelia Tomlinson (née Higgins), the director of London Art Week until 2022, to direct the event.
It is intentionally small—just 13 galleries will take part, each showing only two works. Exhibitors include many Tefaf Maastricht regulars and former LAW participants, such as Tomasso, Agnews, Charles Ede, Stephen Ongpin Fine Art and The Weiss Gallery. “Galleries have been delighted by Studiolo's new addition to the art world calendar and its one day/one evening duration, as well as the collaboration with Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler,” say Boyle and Tomlinson in a joint statement provided to The Art Newspaper. “The historical venue of Spencer House, rather than a tent or own premises, has also generated excitement and intrigue.”
The event happens on the same day as the opening preview of the third edition of Treasure House Fair at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the former site of Masterpiece London. Asked how Studiolo positions itself alongside events like this and CAL, Boyle and Tomlinson say: “We don’t have a fixed position in the market, we are a new venture focused on ephemeral collaborations in ever-changing cities and buildings throughout the year, which allow us to engage new audiences at each edition. Our inaugural event at Spencer House is just the beginning.”
One participant is the London-based sculpture specialist Stuart Lochhead. Studiolo, he says, "feels like a fresh and exciting initiative—one that brings together a carefully curated group of dealers in an inspiring historical setting." He adds: "The one-day format adds a sense of urgency and focus, especially welcome at a time when there’s so much happening in the city...June has traditionally been a key moment for the historical art market in London, and Studiolo is a compelling addition to that landscape."
Lochhead will exhibit a bronze statuette of a Leaping Horse by the Florence-born, London-based Francesco Fanelli—produced at Charles I’s court—and Jean-Joseph Carries’ grotesque Mask which mixes French Gothic and Japanese ceramic traditions, and sits "at the intersection of the ‘applied’ and ‘high’ arts", Lochhead says. Mask is priced at £100,000 and the horse, £35,000.
Overall, prices at the event range broadly, from four to seven figures.
