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Virtual: the new reality
London Art Fair again points the way for the new year but, as John Evans reports, this time itâs different
21 January, 2021 â By John Evans
John Craxton, Head of a Young Man, c1947-1948, oil on panel, 44 x 30cm, courtesy Osborne Samuel
GALLERISTS, collectors, and all art enthusiasts should by now be enjoying the 33rd edition of London Art Fair at the Design Centre in Islington this week.
The pandemic, however, has pushed this annual opener for the art-loving community into a virtual sphere, which kicked off on Wednesday and will run through the rest of January â see www.londonartfair.co.uk
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The Ben Uri Gallery in London has just come up with a new operation model, better suited to the needs of relatively small outfits, such as itself. Or should I say that those who run it have been savvy enough to recognise that the contemporary art world has been massively changed, both by the effects of the COVID pandemic, and also by the forward march of technology, and are ready to make the most of it, knowing that the clock cannot be turned back.
When a semblance of normality returns gallery visits are likely to seem much less jolly – ELS
Wilhelm Hollitscher was the model for Hugo Dachinger’s painting on a copy of The Times in 1940. Image: National Museums Liverpool
INTERNMENT during the Second World War saw thousands of people rounded up and locked behind eight-metre-high barbed wire fences – an indiscriminate action of blanket arrests based on a person’s origin rather than action.
One man interned was a refugee from the Nazis, Wilhelm Hollitscher – and during confinement, he kept a detailed diary.
The discovery of this diary, in the archives of the Weiner Library in Bloomsbury, has prompted a new book telling the story of life in a internment camp.
Works by Marie-Louise von Motesiczky prove huge success at auction
The top price achieved was for Cat with flowers (left), which sold for £11,500 against an estimate of £4,000-6,000.
LONDON
.- A group of oil paintings by Viennese artist Marie-Louise von Motesiczky proved very popular when they were offered at Chiswick Auctions last week. The artist parted with very few works during her lifetime, which meant that the sale was extremely rare and may be why collectors jumped at the opportunity to own one of her pieces.
There was lively bidding for the eight works, which were created by the émigré artist when she was living in London. They were sold on behalf of The Marie-Louise Motesiczky Charitable Trust and achieved a total of £52,600 against an estimate of £45,000.