{"id":504956,"date":"2025-10-16T19:52:23","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T19:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/504956\/"},"modified":"2025-10-16T19:52:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T19:52:23","slug":"at-frieze-london-masters-theres-no-art-market-slowdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/504956\/","title":{"rendered":"At Frieze London, Masters, There\u2019s No Art Market Slowdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

LONDON<\/strong> \u2014 Art has become as much about the crowds and fashion as it is about the pieces.<\/p>\n

At Frieze London and Frieze Masters<\/a>, the twin fine art<\/a> fairs that take place in Regent\u2019s Park, a clutch of designers, models, businessmen and photographers browsed from booth to booth, including Claudia Schiffer, Raf Simons, Giancarlo Giammetti, Mario Testino and Rick Owens.<\/p>\n

More from WWD<\/strong><\/p>\n

They have been adding glitz to the art fair that has kept a rotation of collectors returning annually. Frieze<\/a> London<\/a> drew 168 galleries this year, while a 15-minute walk away at Frieze Masters, 137 galleries were showing pieces of historic art.<\/p>\n

Sales on the first day of Frieze, otherwise known as the VIP preview slot, proved to be promising, totaling more than 6 million pounds.<\/p>\n

At Frieze Masters, Hauser & Wirth sold Gabriele M\u00fcnter\u2019s \u201cDer blaue Garten\u201d for 2.4 million Swiss francs, along with Ren\u00e9 Magritte \u201cLe domaine enchant\u00e9\u201d for $1.6 million; Paul Klee\u2019s painting \u201cBefestigter Ort\u201d for 1.45 million euros; Marcel Duchamp\u2019s \u201cJaquette\u201d for $1.35 million, and Alina Szapocznikow\u2019s \u201cSculpture-lampe\u201d for $1.2 million.<\/p>\n

Other works by Salvador Dal\u00ed, Man Ray and Louise Bourgeois were also sold with a starting price of 200,000 euros.<\/p>\n

The gallery Robilant+Voena, which specializes in Old Masters and post-War Italian art, sold three works by Lucio Fontana, two of which contain the artist\u2019s signature slashes. \u201cConcetto Spaziale, Attese\u201d sold for 1.6 million euros and \u201cConcetto Spaziale\u201d for an asking price of 895,000 euros.<\/p>\n

The other work was a ceramic, going for 200,000 euros.<\/p>\n

Michele di Robilant, an associate at the gallery, said he noticed a slight shift at this year\u2019s fair.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen an influx of multigenerational and younger collectors looking to ground their contemporary art collections in an art-historical context, placing Old Master and Modern works at a unique focal point for collectors concerned with the long-term financial health of the works they\u2019re acquiring,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Great success was also to be found at Frieze London.<\/p>\n

The Gagosian had a sold-out booth dedicated to Lauren Halsey\u2019s work that points to Afrofuturism, ancient Egyptian iconography and popular culture. One of her pieces, which resembles ancient Egyptian stones, depicts Vanessa Williams dancing at Kendrick Lamar\u2019s Super Bowl LIX halftime show. The gallery did not share sales numbers, but according to sources it was over the 500,000 pounds threshold.<\/p>\n

Hauser & Wirth<\/a> sold Ellen Gallagher\u2019s \u201cLips & Paper\u201d for $950,000 and Avery Singer\u2019s \u201cLost Boccioni\u201d for $800,000.<\/p>\n

Austrian gallerist Thaddaeus Ropac sold Robert Rauschenberg\u2019s mixed media work for $850,000 and an Antony Gormley sculpture for 500,000 pounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat stands out this year is just how international the fair has become \u2014 one of the most global editions we\u2019ve had. We\u2019re seeing significant new participation from galleries across Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, which really reinforces London\u2019s position as a hub for the international art community,\u201d said Eva Langret<\/a>, the artistic director of Frieze London.<\/p>\n

She added that the U.K. continues to play a vital role in the global art market. In 2024, it accounted for around 18 percent of worldwide art sales by value \u2014 more than the rest of Europe combined.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt really shows the continued strength and resilience of London\u2019s position,\u201d Langret said.<\/p>\n

Mohammed Hafiz, cofounder of ATHR, a gallery in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, was returning for a fifth time to Frieze London.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrieze London is one of the leading fairs in one of the most important cities. It\u2019s a very familiar city for Arabs and Saudis, we get a lot of exposure from our local collectors and interest from buyers and institutions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s booth featured works by Saudi female artists Daniah Alsaleh and Basmah Felemban. The gallery sold seven pieces on the first day to a mixed clientele, from Germany, the U.S., Saudis and Arabs living in London.<\/p>\n

The Breeder, an Athens-based gallery also went down the route of championing female artists such as Maria Hassabi, Georgia Sagri, Kyriaki Goni, Margarita Myrogianni and Olga Migliaressi-Phoca, whose artwork of a mirror that said \u201cSaint I Ain\u2019t\u201d using the Saint Laurent typeface was one of the fair\u2019s buzzy Instagrammable pieces.<\/p>\n

The gallery sold several pieces, which ranged from 3,000 pounds to 75,000 pounds. The Breeder has been part of Frieze London since the art fair\u2019s beginning in 2003. \u201cLondon is fresh and dynamic,\u201d said Nadia Gerazouni, a director at the gallery.<\/p>\n

Frieze\u2019s art fever is contagious.<\/p>\n

Pippa Lamb<\/a>, an angel investor and partner at Sweet Capital that normally invests in technology, was eyeing up art in her leopard print Reformation boots and vintage Rafael Nadal T-shirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up wanting to be an artist. I almost went to art school. I absolutely love the intersection of creativity and technology; it\u2019s definitely something that I have started to invest in recently,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A host of fashion and jewelry brands got involved in this year\u2019s fair.<\/p>\n

Tiffany & Co. joined Frieze London as the official partner for the Artist-to-Artist program, where renowned artists choose young artists from all corners of the world for solo presentations at the fair. The brand is providing bursaries to help emerging artists selected by established figures.<\/p>\n

De Beers got into the action by tapping South African designer Thebe Magugu to design mac coats for its 20-minute film at Frieze Masters.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe base print is a red rock that can be found in South Africa and it speaks to my ancestry and also to the physicality of mining on De Beers\u2019 side,\u201d the designer said.<\/p>\n

He sketched a cave drawing based on a rock he photographed in Johannesburg on top of the base print.<\/p>\n

Dunhill returned to Frieze Masters with its intimate talks between artists and creatives in a cozy cream-colored auditorium that was shaped like a tent with plush furnishings in beige tones, inviting in C-suite executives, members of the press and its clients to the events.<\/p>\n

The lineup kicked off with Christopher Rothko and Carl Strehlke in a talk titled \u201cAn Encounter in Spiritual Spaces: Mark Rothko and Fra Angelico\u201d followed by conversations between William Dalrymple and Susan Stronge, Glenn Brown and Arturo Galansino, Edward George and Matthew Harle, Tracey Emin and Nicholas Cullinan, and Antony Gormley and Arturo Galansino.<\/p>\n

Best of WWD<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sign up for WWD’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON \u2014 Art has become as much about the crowds and fashion as it is about the pieces.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[748,165552,8271,393,110598,165554,4884,257,165553,156407,155543,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-504956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-claudia-schiffer","10":"tag-contemporary-art","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-frieze-london","13":"tag-giancarlo-giammetti","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-london","16":"tag-mario-testino","17":"tag-raf-simons","18":"tag-rick-owens","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115385594314453661","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}