Brexit

It is two weeks since the first of the three major London summer fairs opened. With all three now concluded, ATG looks back on a summer season acknowledged as surprisingly successful.

Roger Keverne, London dealer in Chinese ceramics and works of art and chairman of Asian Art in London, believes the Leave vote is the moment for the art market to re-examine some of its more onerous laws.

A series of blue-chip consignments from different sectors of the market helped Christie’s ‘Defining British Art’ evening sale in London last night to a £99.5m total including premium. The auction offered paintings by major names including Joshua Reynolds, John Constable, Stanley Spencer, Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon but it was a Henry Moore sculpture that led proceedings, selling at £22m.

Fears that the Brexit vote would seriously impact the art market were partially allayed last night as Sotheby’s Contemporary art sale delivered robust results.

Art and antiques dealers and auctioneers are already compiling a wish-list for the industry in the wake of last week's UK vote to leave the European Union.

With just over a week to go till polling day, we asked dealer and auctioneer representatives to speculate on how both sides will adapt to any uncertainty generated by a vote to Brexit