The London Original Print Fair 2016 was at the Royal Academy of Arts.
David Franchi – Monday, 9th May 2016.
An interesting London Original Print Fair came back to the Royal Academy of Arts for the 2016.
The London Original Print Fair 2016 is for experts but also for fresh starters. Highlights for 2016 were important prints from Masters. LOPF is strictly linked to the Royal Academy. From out of the country some galleries returned to the Fair. For this edition was launched the Ecclesiastical Original Print Award won by The Atkinson, Southport.
At its 32nd edition the London Original Print Fair presented 51 leading publishers, dealers and galleries. The best knowledge from three continents that could be attractive both for expert collectors and for those just starting out, offering fascinating pieces for low prices but also incredible old and expensive prints.
Highlights of this year’s Fair included a significant number of Old Master dealers. C.G Boerner offered Rembrandt’s ‘A Beggar Seated on a Bank (self – portrait)’ and prints of Cranach and the series by Dürer, ‘The Small Woodcut Passion’. Eames Fine Art displayed etchings from the rare first edition of Goya’s ‘Los Caprichos’. August Laube brought two significant Dürer engravings of the Madonna. The Fine Art Society and Gerrish Fine Art offered important prints by CRW Nevinson and Ben Nicholson, and Frederick Mulder had a rare impression of ‘The Sick Child I’ by Edvard Munch. The list of artists could be longer, including Picasso, Andy Warhol, Mirò, Frank Stella, Henry Moore, Yayoi Kusama and Ai Wei Wei, just to name a few.
Strong is the connection between the Royal Academy and the London Original Print Fair. Many Royal Academicians are also printmakers. Bernard Pratt has worked with artist Ana Maria Pacheco for almost 40 years and brings a new series, Comedia to the Fair. Paupers Press launched new works by the Chapman Brothers, while Enitharmon Editions have joined forces with Jealous once again to publish the second in a series of prints made especially for the Fair, The Print and the Poem, this year by Gary Hume. Alan Cristea Gallery presented a solo show of work by Michael Craig-Martin, including his new series entitled Fundamentals (2016).
Returning from overseas are Aspinwall Editions (New York); C.G. Boerner (New York and Düsseldorf); Durham Press (USA); Dreipunkt Edition (Germany); Gallery Jin (Tokyo); August Laube Buch- und Kunstantiquariat (Switzerland), Himmelblau Printmaking (Finland) and Neuhauser Kunstmühle (Austria). Together with them are some newcomers, A & D Martinez and Lelong Editions (Paris), ars, -tis, f. (Germany) and Art Editions-Fils, (Germany) and Kunstverket Galleri (Norway).
A veteran dealer Bernard Jacobson (London) exhibited for the first time at the Fair and, after some years working for Sims Reed Gallery, Lyndsey Ingram launched her own business at LOPF 2016, focused on post-war and contemporary prints.
This year Advanced Graphics have new prints by Anthony Frost: ‘Red Crayola’ and ‘Blue Crayola’. Coriander have worked with Sir Peter Blake RA and the Liverpool Biennial to publish Dazzle.
In this edition was firstly ever inaugurated the Ecclesiastical Original Print Award. It is a purchase grant for Museums, designed to enable a museum, a public galleries and print collections across the UK to buy an original print for their collection.
The winner of the inaugural Ecclesiastical Original Print Award was The Atkinson, Southport. They received £8,000 to spend at the London Original Print Fair.
Chaired by the President of the Royal Academy Christopher Le Brun PRA, the judges chose The Atkinson for their enthusiasm for their print collection and commitment to increasing engagement with artists, schools, communities and visitors.
The LOPF presented an Annual Printmaking Talk, free tours, talks and printmaking demonstrations. Highlights this year included Michael Craig-Martin in conversation with Dame Joan Bakewell, and a Special Artist’s Talk with Yinka Shonibare MBE RA.
The Sponsor was Ecclesiastical Insurance, a specialist insurance and financial services company with expertise in fine arts and heritage, church, home, charity, education and care insurance.
The London Original Print Fair 2016 has been at the Royal Academy of Arts, from 5th until 8th May 2016.
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