News

There is an impressively international roll-call of galleries exhibiting at Collect, the new fair for contemporary objects which takes place at the Victoria & Albert Museum from February 20-24.

The Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers have announced a new subscription structure in the hope of broadening their membership to include smaller firms of valuers.

Whether your penchant is for Arts and Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco or later 20th century design, and whether you are looking for examples in ceramic, glass, metallic, furnishing or sculptural form, Sotheby’s Olympia’s first Decorative Arts sale of 2004 promises its usual broad mix.

PARIS: A PLETHORA of picture sales in Paris in December yielded some unexpectedly high prices but an erratic overall response, with an average take-up (by lot) of around 60 per cent. Results were stronger for Old Masters than for Modern Art, while the presence of buyers from across Europe helped offset the absence of Americans, deterred by the weak dollar.

The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Trust Library has launched an adopt-a-book appeal fronted by Antiques Roadshow bibliophile Clive Farahar.

Although he remains a somewhat shadowy figure, during the last 25 years George Bullock (1777/8-1818) has emerged as perhaps the foremost English designer and cabinet maker of the early 19th century. Amongst many questions still remaining unanswered about Bullock’s life are how much he actually designed himself (no records of his firm survive) just who was his partner Colonel Charles Fraser, which country houses commissions did he undertake, and did he commit suicide?

Showhome is a Dulwich-based company run by ex-fashion journalist Lucy Ryder Richardson and ex-graphic designer Petra Curtis, who, frustrated by not being able to find the kind of 20th century and contemporary furniture and artefacts they liked locally, formed a sourcing and selling business.