The world’s finest art market destination will be open for the public on Saturday July 5th and Sunday July 6th as 80 galleries and auction houses in Mayfair open their doors.
The initial Brown’s London Art Weekend is taking place in early July as a part of the 2014 London Art Week (4th – 11th July).
In collusion with Master Drawings & Sculpture Week and Master Paintings week, over 75 extraordinary exhibitions will be offered to the public. Between both antique and contemporary, over three thousand years of art work will be displayed. The Brown’s London Art Weekend offers almost 100 free tours and talks, a perfect opportunity for art appreciators to explore London’s best private galleries.
The incredible diversity and expertise offered by Mayfair and St James’s art trade is demonstrated by the weekend, and is also the reason thousands of thousands of international art collectors return regularly during the year. Brown’s London Art Weekend welcomes everyone with interested in art, be you a collector, an artist, or just simply curious.
Brown’s Hotel, surrounded by these galleries on Albemarle Street, led the initiative. Brown’s Hotel has an understated elegance, along with it’s location that would make it a popular choice for artists, gallery owners and art collectors. A base for the Art Weekend, Brown’s Hotel will offer accommodation packages, a brunch created by Mark Hix, The Hix Art Brunch, as well as tours around participating galleries.
Mark Hix spoke of the event:
“Being a long-term patron of the arts and supporting both well-known and new artists, it makes sense that we should have a bit of fun and celebrate by hosting Brown’s London Art Weekend, home of HIX Mayfair, in the hub of the West End gallery scene. In between gallery hopping, pop into Hix Mayfair for an art break brunch and a glass of bubbly.”
Each gallery participating in the Art Weekend will be open 10am – 5pm, Saturday July 5th and 12noon – 5pm, Sunday July 6th, with regular talks and tours. It is advised to sign up for talks. You can sign up for talks from Thursday 5th June 2014. Many will volunteer during the Weekend to help visitors best navigate their way between the vast white halls of auction houses and galleries and the discrete salons of master dealers. Brown’s Hotel will also offer routes based on the theme of the art to help one navigate.
Deputy Mayor for Culture and Education, Munira Mirza said:
“The Brown’s London Art Weekend is a great opportunity to celebrate London’s world renowned art galleries in Mayfair. With the concentration of so many high quality art galleries and art dealers clustered in a relatively small area of central London over a period of over 100 years, Mayfair is to art lovers what Savile Row is to fashionistas. This weekend will delight curious minds as well as art connoisseurs to discover London’s art quarter and the works of art that lie at the heart of the global art trade, without the need to dig deep in your own pocket.”
The London Art Weekend could not come at a more critical time for Mayfair’s galleries, quite a few of whom are pressured by steeply rising rents. The Art Weekend will not only help the art trade prove that they are a vital part of the heritage in Mayfair but that they also offer irreplaceable economic, educational, and cultural benefits for Londoners in times to come.
Concerns have already been expressed by Westminster Council and the Mayors Office regarding the potential loss of the art market in the area, but as retail markets and rents boom in the West End and planning deregulation rises, local authorities are increasingly losing their ability to safeguard the survival of cultural destinations like the Mayfair art district in the long run.
It is hoped, after Cork Street avoided threats with a 15,000-strong petition, that initiatives such as Brown’s London Art Weekend will demonstrate once again the vital role to the capital’s vibrant culture played by London’s art market.
Click here to explore Brown's Hotel.