Bonhams appoints new US design chief
BONHAMS has appointed Ben Walker as head of Modern and Decorative Art and Design in the US. He will be based in New York creaing a global department for the company, with Mark Oliver heading sales in this field in the UK.
Walker has worked for a number of dealers in the UK including Marks Antiques and Thomas Goode & Co.
He has also run his own consultancy in Sydney and New York advising private clients and museums since 2009.
MacDougall’s opens in-house gallery
RUSSIAN art specialist Mac- Dougall’s is opening a private gallery. Based at its London premises, the gallery will run in parallel with its auctions.
Regular selling exhibitions will be organised which will enable it to “promote sales of Russian art outside the established London Russian art auction seasons in June and November”. As well as pictures, the gallery will also offer Russian icons and works of art.
Website launched for accessing art
AN online platform has been launched to make privately owned artworks easier to access and research. The Open Inheritance Art project operates under the HMRC Conditional Exemption Incentive scheme, allowing the public to locate works and arrange viewings. So far 36,000 works are listed on the site.
HMRC’s tax-exemption scheme allows artworks to be offset against tax liabilities provided they are kept in the public domain.
Most read
Here are the most clicked-on stories for week Feb 9-15, 2017 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 Bolton saleroom offers convicted faker’s ‘Lowry’ imitations
2 Empress of Russia’s Fabergé gift to her Yorkshire godchildren
3 Rare book trade hit by shocking £2m theft
4 Oprah Winfrey sells $150m Klimt portrait to Chinese buyer
5 Export bar issued for Parmigianino
In Numbers
6
The number of national newspapers that picked up ATG’s exclusive story last week on high-profile historians and institutions calling for antique ivory to be exempt from any ban.
National Gallery pulls out of deal
THE National Gallery in London has ceased fundraising efforts to acquire an important Pontormo portrait after negotiations with the seller failed.
The gallery had successfully raised the £30.6m recommended by the Export Reviewing Committee for the acquisition of the 1530 Portraitof a Young Man in a Red Cap.
American owner James Tomilson Hill had bought the painting in 2015 from the Earl of Caledon but protested that the recent drop in sterling meant he would effectively lose $10m (£8m) on the deal and ultimately did not accept the museum’s offer.
Trinder moves on
JOE Trinder is leaving Wotton Auction Rooms after five years to join start-up saleroom Dawson’s, in Maidenhead.
Trinder, who is president of NAVA Propertymark and a former chairman of Antiques Young Guns, said: “Dawson’s is run by a young, energetic team – with no-one aged over 40 – and with excellent plans and aspirations for the future.”
Police appeal after theft from art fair
POLICE are appealing for information after a painting by Mary Potter (1900-81) was stolen at a recent fair in north London. The oil on canvas Stained Glass (1968) was stolen from the stand of dealer Duncan R Miller Fine Arts and is believed to have a New Arts Centre exhibition label on the reverse.
Anyone with information should contact Islington Police Station on 101. The crime reference number is 2701823/17.
