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With fairs cancelled and galleries shuttered over the past year, London’s art market has been a shadow of its former self. Will the city see high footfall again, or are virtual viewings and diminished sales here to stay? Below art dealers Stephen Ongpin and Thomas Dane and François Chantala reflect on what’s to come.
Stephen Ongpin
The art market in London is a many-splendoured thing. I know this from my own experience of it, both as a gallerist specialising in Old Master, 19th-century and modern drawings for more than 30 years, and as chairman of London Art Week (LAW), a dealer-led event which features many of the capital’s leading galleries and auction houses, and highlights the very best of what the city can offer in the world of pre-contemporary art. Although it may come as a surprise to the national press, who seem to regard the ‘art market’ as being solely about contemporary art, London supports a thriving ecosystem of galleries encompassing some 5,000 years of art history.