This is London’s only annual fair for all original works on paper. When it was first conceived there were a few doubts as to just what sort of identity the new arrival would forge.
Would it be drastically different to the organisers’ own British art fair and, more importantly, would it tread on the toes of the watercolours fair. It has emerged as its own fair and it has built up its own following with a mix of watercolours, Old Master drawings, original prints, posters and limited edition books.
It also offers work of undoubted quality at very reasonable prices and this is a fair where you really can buy something worthwhile for less than £150.
The 50 exhibitors are mainly British but this year there is a somewhat more cosmopolitan flavour with standholders arriving from France, Italy and Poland.
Expect lithographs from the 20th century masters like Picasso, Matisse and Warhol but there will also be a strong leaning towards Modern British. New Wave prints from Japan will be available and, for the first time, contemporary work from India is on sale.
The addition of sculpture last year to contrast with the mass of ‘flat’ art on display proved popular and will be repeated.
Admission to Art on paper Fair, which is now the only fair at the Royal College, is £5.
Over the paper moon at the Royal College
ORGANISERS Gay Hutson and Angela Wynn, who run the successful 20/21 British Art Fair, had fairly modest expectations when they launched their Art on paper Fair at London’s Royal College of Art four years ago but, as you will see at its fifth staging from January 30 to February 2, it has very much found a niche in the crowded London fairs scene.
