1 How did you get your start as a dealer?
My late mother, Heather Newman, established the business at her home in Gloucestershire in 1969. After ignoring the piles of pictures in our home as a child, I eventually joined her in partnership in 1986.
2 What challenges are facing the trade in the coming months?
The loss of fairs as a marketplace for both sales and establishing relationships with clients. The internet is too impersonal to replace either. However, there is still a trend for quality. There is a world of difference between the ‘best and the rest’ – in any field.
3 One lesson you would like to pass on to future dealers?
There are no short-cuts to the accumulation of experience. I continually rely on my ‘eye’ and knowledge to identify the artist’s hand of unsigned and hence uncatalogued watercolours of the ‘English School’.
Joseph Murray Ince’s watercolour The Horse Guards from the Park, signed and dated 1833, is offered for £1150 in Newman’s annual watercolour exhibition.
4 What is something you couldn’t do without?
The skills of my paper conservator.
5 Real ale or espresso martini?
Real Cotswold ale in a real Cotswold pub.
If you would like to be featured in 5 Questions, please contact francesallitt@antiquestradegazette.com
