Arts hub members list announced
Cromwell Place, the new arts hub in South Kensington, London, has announced its membership list.
The £20m development located in five Grade II-listed Georgian townhouses includes 14 galleries and a variety of working spaces and storage options.
There is a multi-tiered membership model for art businesses, giving them access to viewing rooms, meeting rooms and technical support.
Among the dealerships on the list are Stair Sainty, which focuses on 16th-early 20th century European painting, Old Master specialist Baring Fine Art and John Martin Gallery, offering Contemporary works.
‘Honorary members’ – limited to institutional directors and senior curators – include the Camden Arts Centre and Kettles Yard.
In light of the continuing coronavirus outbreak the opening, planned for May 16, has been postponed until the autumn.
Jewellery stolen in Oxford burglary
Police are trying to trace antique jewellery stolen by burglars from Norah’s Antiques in Oxford. The theft occurred sometime between the afternoon of March 21 and 7.30am on March 22.
Thames Valley Police said the offenders smashed the street-facing window of the shop in Turl Street and stole a large amount of jewellery including rings and brooches.
Investigating officer Det Con Rob Prout, of Force CID based at St Aldates police station in Oxfordshire, said: “I am asking anybody who did witness anything to make contact with police.”
At this stage no photos of the stolen jewellery are available.
Anyone with information should call 101 quoting reference 43200094657 or call the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Washington gallery returns a Picasso
The National Gallery of Art in Washington announced it will return a pastel drawing by Pablo Picasso to the heirs of a prominent German-Jewish banker who was persecuted by the Nazis.
Head of a Woman (1903) from Picasso’s Blue Period is one of at least 16 pictures that the banker Paul von Mendelssohn- Bartholdy sold in the months after the Nazis seized power and before his death in 1935.
It was sold to the dealer Justin K Thannhauser in 1934 and The National Gallery of Art said it acquired the pastel as a donation in 2001.
The New York Times reported that the museum decided to transfer ownership of the drawing in a settlement “to avoid the heavy toll of litigation”.
The decision, it said, “does not constitute an acknowledgment of the merit or validity of the asserted claims”.
Van Gogh painting taken from museum
A Vincent van Gogh painting from the early part of the artist’s career has been stolen from a museum in the Netherlands.
According to a report by Associated Press, the theft occurred at the Singer Laren museum east of Amsterdam. The painting in question is The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring 1884 which is believed to have been stolen in the early hours of March 30. The 10 x 22in (25 x 57cm) oil on paper shows a person standing in a garden surrounded by trees with a church tower in the background.
The museum houses the collection of American couple William and Anna Singer and the painting was on loan from the Groninger Museum in the northern Dutch city of Groningen.
Wyngarde estate sale is white-glove
The dedicated, online-only sale of actor Peter Wyngarde’s estate and related items at East Bristol Auctions was a white-glove sell-out.
Peter Wyngarde’s personally owned copy of his self-titled 1970 album on vinyl – £320 at East Bristol Auctions.
A total of 257 lots sold on March 26 ranged from items that were in his private residence in Kensington to props and costumes from a long career. Wyngarde (1927-2018) appeared in most 1960s-70s ‘cult’ programmes including Doctor Who and The Avengers and took leading roles in his own shows Jason King and Department S.
Auctioneer Andy Stowe said: “The rostrum was my dining room table, with the dog asleep at my feet. I was operating the software entirely myself, which was surprisingly easy.”
Stowe added: “We had lots of celebrity interest in this sale with several of the buyers being well-known presenters, actors and pop stars. It had an amazing celebrity reaction on social media.”
Also see Auction Reports, p11.
Most read
The most viewed stories for week March 26-April 1 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 Coronavirus: latest changes to auctions and fairs dates
2 TV’s Charlie Ross posts online workout video for auctioneers with closed salerooms
3 Showcasing 40 fabulous objects from dealers’ websites
4 Fellows sticks to family values as jewellery auction is staged from owner’s home
5 Rembrandt self-portrait, yachting watch and a portrait by a British society artist – among five auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes
In Numbers
33%
The proportion of bidders at Sotheby’s Design sale held from March 24-31 in New York bidding via mobile phone.
