London

Art dealers Messum’s have committed their future to London’s embattled Cork Street by acquiring a new gallery just down the road from their current premises.

Frieze Week, London’s annual contemporary art circus, means big business.

Sotheby’s have appointed Fru Tholstrup as director of their new London S|2 gallery, to oversee the running and strategy behind this new purpose-built space for private selling exhibitions of Contemporary Art in Mayfair.

This week is Frieze Week in London, a flurry of fairs, exhibitions and sales including the opening of the Contemporary art giant Frieze London.

Bizarre, bonkers and not quite on the wall – the Bush Beano charity evening at the LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair in Berkeley Square on September 28 was refreshingly different for an antiques fair.

The ‘Watercolours’ fair returns for its fifth year at the Science Museum, from February 6-8.

As London works of art dealer Danny Katz moves to new premises off Berkeley Square, Sotheby’s are to sell works from his Bond Street gallery.

Over 120 players took to the football pitch on Saturday, September 7, for the annual antique and fine art industry five-a-side tournament. The event raised £16,000 for The Haven Breast Cancer Support Centres, the best ever total in its 11-year history.

Over 120 players took to the football pitch on Saturday, September 7, for the annual antique and fine art industry five-a-side tournament. The event raised £16,000 for The Haven Breast Cancer Support Centres, the best ever total in its 11-year history.

Campaigners against changes in VAT that affect showground fairs met for the first time at a crisis summit in London. They now intend to form a trade federation to fight the changes.

Whitehall officials overseeing CITES enforcement have removed guidelines from their website after conceding that they are confusing.

Before the opening of Masterpiece London, London dealers Apter-Fredericks pledged to donate £1000 to the military charity Walking With the Wounded if they sold a pair of 19th century English cannons at the fair.

The Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers held a seminar titled ‘CITES, What’s Going On?’ in London on September 2 attended by more than 40 members.

Three pieces of Victorian art from the Leverhulme collection will be offered at Sotheby’s in London later this year with a combined estimate of £9m-14m.

The competition for private sales among the leading auction rooms will step up during the coming weeks as both Sotheby’s and Christie’s hold exhibitions at their new private galleries in London.

The University of London is reported to have cancelled plans to auction off a rare set of four early Shakespeare folios to raise funds for further acquisitions.

A small painting bought as part of a £30 “job lot” at auction has turned out to be an original by the 19th century British artist John Constable and valued at £250,000.

With the Royal Academy opening a major show of Australian art in London on September 21, Christie’s will hope the added attention on this sector will yield benefit at their specialist sale being held in the Capital the week after.

Antiques traders in Portobello Market have been praised by police for their help in catching a vicious gang who have now been jailed for a string of terrifying robberies netting jewellery worth nearly £250,000.

Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions are to hold a pilot sale of Contemporary Chinese art in partnership with Yourun International (UK) Art Investment & Management Ltd, a London-based arts and cultural institution specialising in promoting emerging Chinese artists.