In the 1960s a cosmopolitan collector friend of my father who had fallen on hard times took salaried employment with a Bond Street gallery. When asked how he was adapting to his new life, he replied serenely: ‘In the art world, there are the crooks and the supercrooks. I’m with the supercrooks.’
Today, he might not have found the transition so smooth. In the past ten years the art business has changed almost beyond recognition, especially in the field of contemporary art. The model of the contemporary art dealer is now closer to a market trader than a supercrook thanks to the boom in art fairs, which has shifted the action from the hush of the private gallery to the hubbub of the marketplace.
This year, London will host no fewer than 16 fairs dealing to differing degrees in contemporary art. Next week the pioneering London Art Fair celebrates its 16th birthday at the Business Design Centre in Islington (14–18 January), followed by The Art on Paper Fair — now six years old — at the Royal College of Art (29 January to 1 February).
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