Visitor Attendance up 10% 15th June, 2009

So that’s it, the fair is now over and the stands are on their way down. After an adrenaline packed few weeks we’ll all be making our way back to normal office life in order to start planning November’s Winter Fair.

However, any sadness is quickly tempered by our amazing visitor numbers. With 35,000 people walking through our doors to see all the unique objects that we had on show, and thousands battling against the tube strike to make there way over to Kensington to see what we had on offer.

Our success would, of course, have been impossible without our incredible exhibitors who have worked hard to make this show a triumph. We would also like to thank all our sponsors and partners for their input and support.

TASTEMEISTER LIKES THE VERY ANCIENT WITH GREAT MODERN 1st June, 2009

The very old and great modern always go well together because the best is always the simplest. Very old pieces deliver the requisite simplicity, like the sombrely plain museum quality Cromwellian oak trestle gateleg table exhibited by Lucy Johnson, who understands how this works and always demonstrates it on her stand. At the Fair, she teams her early furniture with works by Graham Sutherland and Paul Nash.

The table would also go brilliantly with the abstract art of Caziel, at Whitford Fine Art. There is a bit of a boom at the Fair this year in Mod Brit art as Post War British art is affectionately known by its adherents. Austin Desmond, for instance is showing landscapes by Ivor Hitchens and Terry Frost – both names to be conjured with these days. Keep it old, keep it plain and keep it modern I say.

THE SUMMER FAIR: OF COURTS AND COURTESANS 27th May, 2009

I’ve always loved the summer fair at Olympia because of the endless cultural and artistic surprises it reveals to sharp eyes.  There’s never any overall ‘look’ – that would be boring.  Just a cornucopia of great and decorative works of art spread across the centuries.
	Courts of Imperial China The private lives of the courts of Imperial China are always well represented at Olympia.  Vanderven and Vanderven for instance will show an extremely rare plaster figure of one of those dignitaries that ruled China, and Jacqueline Simcox has museum quality Chinese silk tapestries, embroideries and brocades dating from the 15th to the 19th Century, made for the Chinese court and aristocracy.  Think the Forbidden City and the setting for that superb Chinese novel of courtly love and longing The Red Room.
	… and Europe Carlton Hobbs always has amazing pieces and he is not going to disappoint this summer.  A pair of tables from the Palazzo Colonna for instance are, by family tradition, believed to have been designed by that pin-up boy of the Grand Tour, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, whose views of Ancient Rome were the ‘been there’ souvenirs brought home by aristocratic tourists in the late 18th Century.  And Hobbs has got another Grand Tourist piece.  It’s German, it’s 18th Century and it’s a metamorphic secretaire disguised in cork – wait for it – to appear to be a ruin.  O heaven! Old-school courtesans had fabulous taste;  think Madame de Pompadour for a start.  Pelham Galleries proves my point with their fabulous courtesan’s bed.  It’s attributed to Claude-Nicolas Ledoux and it is believed to have been supplied to Marie-Madeleine Guimard, the leading ballerina (and other things) of the Paris Opera during the reign of Louis XVI.  Marie-Madeleine was painted by Fragonard and Ledoux designed her impossibly grand house in the Chaussee d’Antin where she entertained lovers such as the Prince de Soubise on a one-to-one basis and, in the theatre, 500 spectators at a time.  What a woman!  What a bed!

A Picture is worth a Thousand Words 26th May, 2009

Military Bearing 25th May, 2009

There are many interesting and varied pieces with a military history marching their way into this year’s Olympia fair. Garth Vincent specialists in fine antiques arms and armour will be bringing a full suit of well constructed armour in the manner of the late 16th century Milanese style. It is fully articulated and mounted on an old oak stand, as well as a range of antique firearms including an extremely rare over and under flintlock pistol by La Page.

Christopher Clarke will show a mahogany campaign basin with Old Sheffield Plate liner that belonged to Major General Sir Denis Pack, an exceptional soldier of the Napoleonic Wars. Circa 1813. This is an unusual form of bidet with the leather lined lid held by a large purpose made hinge to form a shelf. Most bidets have a removable lid. The size is also a little smaller than expected and the shape not rectangular but with rounded corners. The liner is Sheffield plate and not copper. Perhaps given these facts, this box was designed to also be used as washbasin. The brass screw plates to the underside, given their proximity to the rounded edge, suggest they would have taken brass rod legs as opposed to turned mahogany ones. The box is strongly bound by 2 one inch straps and the top has a brass edge. The flush handle to the top also forms the engraving plate that bears Pack’s name. Even without the provenance of one of the most decorated officers of the Napoleonic Wars after Wellington, this basin is a superb piece of campaign furniture and made by a skilled cabinet maker. Add the fact that it could well have been at Waterloo and it makes it an important item.

Literary Ambition 24th May, 2009

For those in need of a little inspiration with their writings, Andrew Dando Esq will be showing a set of Staffordshire ‘Dickens’ characters circa 1839.

Whilst Finch & Co will bring a carved white marble memorial plaque of Lord Byron 1788 – 1824.

For those more intent on building a library, Potterton Books, Don Kelly Books, and Simon Finch Rare Books will be exhibiting at the fair.

Adrian Alan will, show the ‘Grande Bibliothéque’, exhibited at the Paris Exposition Universelle, 1900, by François Linke, while Edward Barnsley Workshop will be bringing the ‘Aspire Library Steps’ which are made in ripples sycamore with walnut treads and balance upon three points.

Textiles 23rd May, 2009

Jacqueline Simcox, a specialist in Chinese silk textiles will be bringing a blue silk panel of Chinese embroidery, featuring a repeating pattern of skulls, each with a crown of a flaming jewel, alternating with a flaming jewel resting on a lotus flower. These panels were hung above altars within the prayer halls of monasteries, or draped around columns and walls.

Whilst Marilyn Garrow will bring a pair of 18th century embroidered panels, intricately embroidered in polychrome silks on a silk ground with delicate flowers and tendrils interspersed with unusual polka dot design. The Dutch Aardewerk Brothers Antiques are showing a silk on silk embroidery of birds amongst flowers c1900 depicting spring.

Peta Smyth will be bringing an English Indo-Chinese tapestry fragment that is thought to be depicting the Toilet of the Princess, woven at the Great Wardrobe by John Vanderbank between 1690 and 1715.

Photo@Olympia 22nd May, 2009

In a new move for Olympia, photography has its own exhibition space within the fair for the very first time. A section of the gallery will be dedicated to the top national and international vintage and contemporary photography dealers. Visitors will be able to view, and purchase, images from a range of world renowned international galleries.

Little Black Gallery will be exhibiting prints from its extremely successful show Kiss as well as a range of images from up-coming shows, available to buy. Whilst Witzenhausen Gallery will be showcasing the work of the extraordinary photographer Hendrik Kerstens, with particular reference to the series of portraits of his daughter that resulted in him being shortlisted for the famous Taylor Wessing Photography Prize.

The Photographers’ Gallery will be showing evocative prints by the Austrian cinematographer and photographer Wolfgang Suschitzky and a series of images, by British artist Stephen Vaughn, based on a journey around Iceland exploring the connections between geology, archaeology, history, and memory. The Photographers’ Gallery is the largest public gallery in London dedicated to photography and a registered charity.

Old Masters 21st May, 2009

Old Master art works, increasingly sought after in recent times, are well represented at the fair with key exhibitors Baroni and Alberto di Castro exhibiting some of their best works, including a Tiepolo painting from Baroni and a bust of the Emperor Nero from Alberto di Castro, dated from around 1751 and originally displayed at Wilton House, Salisbury.

The Tomasso Brothers will sell a selection of exquisite sculpture and Renaissance paintings including a late 18th century bust of Dionysus possibly by the Italian sculptor Luigi Valadier and a white marble bust of Italian noblewoman Prodenza Feroni by the sculptor Giovacchino Fortini, also dating from the 18th century.

New York based dealer Carlton Hobbs, also a newcomer to the fair, will be bringing a rare set of three carved panels from the 18th century, and depicting an allegorical representation of the Hapsburg dynasty.

Mid-Century Modern 20th May, 2009

Specialists in twentieth century works, Müllendorff being a unique and very rare steel table, mechanically operated and with black lacquer interior. Designed by the 1960s Italian artist, architect and muse Gabriella Crespi, her works are heavily influenced by artists such as Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier.

London based exhibitor Gordon Watson will show fine furniture and lighting from the 1930s-1950s.