Frieze Masters London 2018 record sales and institutional attendance.

Frieze Masters London 2018

The 2018 edition of Frieze Masters in London’s Regent’s Park ended recording strong sales to private collections and institutions by galleries across all sectors and levels of the market.

For the first time, Frieze Masters London 2018 opened with a two-day Preview, bringing together robust attendance from both established and new collectors, and record institutional attendance from Asia and the Americas.

Showcasing artworks well evaluated by experts, the Frieze Masters 2018 attracted to London 130 galleries internationally renowned, who offered pieces of six millennia of art history from around the world, together with Old Masters and antiquities, tribal, Surrealist and 20th-century art.

There have been strong sales during the two-day Preview as well as throughout the week confirming the solid engagement amongst collectors. Galleries across the fair’s main and curated section – Spotlight and Collections – reported strong sales. Select highlights include: Van de Weghe sold a work by Franz Kline for USD 8,000,000; Dr. Jörn Günther Rare Books sold an extremely rare, imperial Book of Hours with an asking price of around EUR 3,000,000; Lévy Gorvy/kamel mennour sold four major works by François Morellet priced between EUR 250,000-350,000. Another work by François Morellet was sold to a European institution for EUR 1,000,000. Robilant + Voena’s sold an 18thcentury painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo to a European collector, with an asking price of 600,000 EURO; and a Canova bust to a private collection in South Korea, asking price 1 million USD. David Zwirner had sales of works by Anni Albers, Ruth Asawa, On Kawara, Dieter Roth, Bruce Nauman, and Franz West with prices ranging between USD 175,000 – 1.4 million. Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert had strong sales of British contemporary work including two Bridget Riley’s, ranging from GBP 160,000 – 650,000. In the Collections section, Oscar Humphries sold seven Japanese vases with prices ranging between GBP 2,500-8,000. Michael Hoppen, featured in the Spotlight section, sold ten works with prices ranging between GBP 8,500-32,000. In the Spotlight section Galerie Loevenbruck almost sold out their booth of drawings and paintings by Japanese artist, Key Hiraga, ranging between EUR 6,000 – 65,000.

Frieze Masters London 2018 collaborated with important cultural figures, including Tim Marlow (Royal Academy of Arts, London) who returned to oversee the Frieze Masters Talks programme; Sir Norman Rosenthal (independent curator) who curated the Collections section; with Toby Kamps (Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston) curating Spotlight solo presentations. The Frieze Masters Talks this year exclusively featured women international artists, including renowned figures Tacita Dean, Julie Mehretu and Amy Sillman in conversation with women directors and curators from international institutions.

Directors, curators, trustees and patron groups from a record 235 international museums and other arts organisations attended, including a raise in groups from Asia and the Americas.

The Art Fund Curators Programme returned to the fair, bringing together museum professionals from the UK and around the world to explore how French, Italian and Spanish Old Master painting and sculpture collections can engage contemporary audiences. The third year of the programme was led by Gabriele Finaldi (Director, National Gallery, London) and Paola D’Agostino (Director, Musei del Bargello). The 2018 participants included: Esther Bell (Clark Art Institute); Davide Gasparotto (J. Paul Getty Museum); Guillaume Kientz (Musée du Louvre); Rebecca Long (The Art Institute of Chicago); Dr. Lawrence W. Nichols (Toledo Museum of Art); and Stephan Wolohojian (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Also new was “The Frieze Debate: Museums in the 21st Century”. On 2nd October at The Royal Institution (London), Frieze presented a panel of global museum directors for a recorded broadcast in collaboration with BBC Radio 3. Panellists included Hartwig Fischer (British Museum), Michael Govan (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) and Sabine Haag (Kunsthistorisches Museum). They discussed how to make encyclopaedic museums make certain millenia of history is relevant to today’s audiences and how the digital age shapes the way audiences experience art. The discussion was broadcast on Free Thinking, BBC Radio 3’s flagship art and culture programme.

Frieze Masters was supported by global lead partner Deutsche Bank for the seventh consecutive year. Additionally, Frieze Masters partnered with BMW, Official Champagne Ruinart, the Financial Times, Richard Mille, Lavazza, Lodha, The Contemporary Art Society, The Royal Parks, Art Fund, and The Maybourne Hotel Group.

Frieze Masters was in Regent’s Park, London, from 2^nd October (Preview) to 7^th October 2018.