LONDON.- The London International Fine Art Fair (LIFAF) at Olympia will kick off the Summer Season presenting the most broad ranging fine art and antiques event in London when it opens to the public on Friday 4 June 2010 for ten days of summer fair excitement. Special partnerships with Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres and the never seen before loan exhibition “Modern British Masters: Pictures from the Bryan Ferry Collection” will add a new dimension to the fair and enhance London’s role as a focal point for fine art and antiques each June.

With a 37 year history, LIFAF is London’s largest and most established fair of its kind. Bringing together more than 150 prestigious British and international dealers with over 30,000 private buyers, curators, interior designers and devotees from around the world, the grand, historic venue of Olympia will be transformed into an arena for commerce for dealers, collectors and lovers of antiques, paintings of all periods, sculpture, furniture, modern design, jewellery, silver, textiles, books and objets d’art.

This year LIFAF will support Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres. Landscape architect, Dr. Christine Facer will transform the newly designed fair space with its collector’s crescent, enlarged and airy dining and entertaining spaces with a unique Maggie’s landscape garden design that focuses on a Maggie’s Tree of Hope: “A specimen flowering tree spreads its canopy like a metaphorical umbrella that is a Maggie’s Centre: a home-from-home place where visitors can ‘shelter’ and be offered advice; a refuge for support during the bad days and a blossoming of hope”, Dr. Christine Facer. A key stone of Maggie’s belief is the knowledge that stimulating landscapes create a healing environment. Dr. Facer is designing the garden for the next Maggie’s Centre, which will open in the Cotswolds this autumn.

"Modern British Masters: Pictures from the Bryan Ferry Collection" will be a very special loan exhibition on display this year. This exceptional group of fifteen rarely seen paintings is representative of Bryan Ferry’s passion for early twentieth-century British painting which he has been collecting for thirty years. Selected by Richard Shone, Editor of The Burlington Magazine and the author of many publications on modern British art, this exhibition not only offers a fascinating insight into the taste and interests of the former lead singer of Roxy Music and internationally known performer but is also a great opportunity to view works by some of Britain's finest artists. The paintings range in date from c.1900, including a superb work by William Orpen and a brooding portrait of the young Wyndham Lewis by Augustus John, to a little-known late painting by Walter Sickert from the 1930s. In between are Post-Impressionist works by Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell (and later still lives by these two artists) and characteristic paintings by John Nash and CRW Nevinson.

This prestigious fair brings a large array of quality, expertise, accessibility and offers cultural entertainment as well as opportunities for acquisition. The Country Life - LAPADA Object of the Year competition will bring together about 20 top objects for display and sale at the fair. Accommodating every level of collector, the fair provides a stage where all visitors have the opportunity to expand their knowledge of fine art, antiques, and modern and contemporary design through a special programme of talks and lectures from eminent members of the arts community.

Confirmed lectures are as follows: Monday, June 7, Dr. Jonathan Foyle, Chief Executive,World Monuments Fund Britain, will speak on Stowe House; Tuesday, June 8, Sotheby’s Institute of Art will present an evening debate entitled “The State of The Art Market: A Return to Quality and Value,” and on Wednesday, June 9, Sir Timothy Clifford will deliver a lecture presentation “Forty Years of Rape and Pillage: Buying Art for the Nation.” The evening debate is ticketed at £15, all others are open to the public.