After 47 years with the company, managing director Tony Nevill has fully retired. Charles Kingzett and Juliet Johnson remain in place and joining them as co-director is Giles Baker-Smith, who started with Frost & Reed in 1985 before leaving in 1994 to found Contemporary art dealership the Blue Gallery in Clerkenwell.
The Blue Gallery itself will be acquired by Frost & Reed to bring a Contemporary dimension to the firm, under the direction of Philip Godsal. He will work out of the main King Street, SW1 gallery and the Clerkenwell premises will be vacated. A complete refurbishment of King Street should be completed in March.
Because of the activity in London, Frost & Reed will not stand at fairs in Palm Beach and New York this year, but they intend to maintain a high profile in the United States and have no immediate plans to move from their Manhattan gallery at East 67th Street.
Martyn Rose, chairman of Frost & Reed, sees these developments as a necessary rationalisation of the company’s activities in the international art market and says: “It is beholden on those more traditional dealers to sharpen their practice.”
Frost & Reed revamp includes a move into the Contemporary
ST James’s gallery Frost and Reed, founded in 1808, have undergone a management shake-up and will have an increased focus on Contemporary art.