Offered for £675 at the Cotswold fair by Brian Ashbee & Wes Wortruba is this painting by Frank Shipsides, The German Ship Passat.
Don’t think of summer as a dead calm for the trade, when sailing over the horizon is the Cotswolds Decorative, Antiques & Art Fair.
Running from August 12-14 at Westonbirt School, it features a marine painting by the aptly named Frank Shipsides (1908-2005) among its highlights.
The oil on canvas depicts a German four-masted ship, Passat, being towed towards Bristol harbour. Shipsides’ paintings were the focus of several solo exhibitions in Alexander Gallery in his hometown and several hang in the Bristol City Council House.
Andy Maule Antiques brings a pair of 19th century carved carnival heads, ticketed at £2850.
This example of his work is offered by Brian Ashbee & Wes Wortruba for £675.
It is the second outing for the Cotswolds fair this year which brings a typical mix of decorative and unusual pieces – see, for example, the pair of 19th century carved wooden carnival heads that Andy Maule Antiques offers for £2850.
With Birmingham’s Art & Antiques for Everyone off this summer thanks to the Commonwealth Games, the Cotswolds event could attract more than the usual number of shoppers.
They will be met with offerings from 40 exhibitors (the event is fully booked).
Hickmet Fine Art offers this Art Deco cold painted bonze, Riding Crop by Bruno Zach for £11,500.
These include Kalms Antiques offering silver, WR Harvey with Georgian and Regency furniture and King George Antiques bringing a selection of architectural salvage, furniture, lighting and rugs. Newcomers include Hickmet Fine Arts, which brings a selection of Art Nouveau and Art Deco European sculpture. Among the offerings, ticketed at £11,500, is a rather saucy cold painted bronze and onyx figure by Bruno Zach titled Riding Crop.
Howell’s 1870 and Gladwells Rutland are also joining for the first time while Jo Bennett Original Pictures is returning after some time away.
Chester return
Also from Cooper Events, the Chester Decorative Antiques & Art Fair returns this autumn. It is more than a year since it last took place, and that staging was beset by the city’s road closures.
“[We] were severely hampered by the widespread perception that getting in and out of Chester by car was very difficult,” Sue Ede says. “Our usual customers cannot be blamed for staying away from the fair. This meant we felt we could not return until this autumn when the roadworks are finished and business in Chester is back to normal.”
Add ongoing struggles with Covid restrictions and timing for the last run was tricky.
Ede is now ready for a triumphant return.
“We will be pulling out all the stops to ensure this fair proves successful,”she adds.
The Chester fair is scheduled for October 5-7 with room for more than 40 exhibitors.
