LONDON.- Eye of the Collector’s inaugural edition will be held at Two Temple Place, London from 8-11 September 2021. A celebration of connoisseurship spanning 6000 years of art history, the fair presents select works of art and design carefully chosen in collaboration with participating galleries. Welcoming 30 UK and international participants, the fair showcases exceptional works presented as if they were in a collector’s home, juxtaposing the contemporary, modern and ancient to create new dialogues that will inspire and engage.

A reinvigorated fair model for a new era, Eye of the Collector has no booths or boundaries and its boutique format presents works in a curated dialogue with the striking surroundings of a neo-Gothic mansion steeped in history. A spirit of discovery and rediscovery lies at its heart, and alongside works spanning the history of art, collectors can view new and exciting works commissioned especially for the fair.

Highlights include:

The spirit of the fair is exemplified through the presentation of a number of previously overlooked artists including Perle Fine, a contemporary of Rothko and major figure of the New York Abstract Expressionist movement whose contribution has been significantly under-represented (Gazelli Art House), and Lotte Laserstein, a German-Swedish painter who can be considered one of the great women artists of the 20th Century and whose oeuvre and successful career fell prey to Nazi iconoclasm (Agnews). Also on view are seminal works such as Vilhelm Hammershøi’s The White Door (1888), the first known painting of an empty room by the artist famed for his interiors (Agnews).

Superb examples of mid-century design will be presented by Modernity, including an extremely rare pair of easy chairs from 1951 designed by Brockmann Petersen for Louis G. Thiersen & Søn, Denmark and contemporary design will be represented by Gallery FUMI.




Museum quality studio ceramics include Lucie Rie’s Bottle Vase with Flared Neck, 1972 (Oxford Ceramics Gallery), a sculptural work by Loewe Foundation Craft Prize winner and master ceramicist Takayuki Sakiyama (Katie Jones) and the enigmatic Paper series of works by Su Xianzhong. Su is descended from a long line of respected traditional Dehua Blanc de Chine sculptors and is part of the famed Yun Yu Porcelain Studio (Ting-Ying Gallery).

Ancient Art is represented by leading international galleries in this field with works that include a 1st century AD torso of Bacchus which captures the beauty of the divine male form (Ariadne), a Greek bronze helmet of Illyrian type, circa 6th - 5th century BC (Kallos Gallery) and an Egyptian bust of a nobleman or scribe, Late Dynastic Period, early 26th Dynasty, reign of Psamtik I, c.664-610 BC (Charles Ede).

Works by Modern Masters include rare linocut prints from Picasso’s Jacqueline lisant series, with a complete set of working states for this subject (Frederick Mulder Ltd); iconic works by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring (Long-Sharp Gallery); Lucio Fontana’s Concetto spaziale, Attese, 1967 (Tornabuoni Art) and Barbara Hepworth’s Three Forms, a sculpture conceived in alabaster in 1935 and cast in bronze in 1971 (Willoughby Gerrish).

New works and commissions created especially for the fair include a bench by feted British designer Max Lamb (Gallery FUMI); a new monumental work from the Water Series by British sculptor Patrick Hurst (Long-Sharp Gallery), a series of new works by Brazilian artist Gustavo Nazareno (Gallery 1957) and a site-specific installation by Susie MacMurray - an artist known for her interventions in historic spaces (Pangolin London).

Embodying the fair’s experiential nature, a room at Two Temple Place will house Amma, an immersive ‘bio-responsive’ sculpture by Based Upon, that invites visitors to take a moment to pause and reflect.

‘We look forward to welcoming the London community of international collectors in real life this September to a new type of art experience, amplified through the Eye Viewing Room and our partnership with Christie’s. We are delighted that so many leading galleries have joined us on this creative journey.’ - Nazy Vassegh, Founder and CEO, Eye of the Collector

A new partnership, Eye of the Collector X Christie’s focuses on the curatorial nature of Eye of the Collector. Running alongside the physical event Christie’s will create a globally accessible online platform showcasing highlights from the fair presented against the stunning backdrop of Two Temple Place.