On curating an art collection

"Portraits are a really good way to ground a room in a specific period."  Philip Mould, renowned art dealer whose Mayfair gallery displays some of the finest in English Portraiture from the sixteenth century forward, said this to my business partner during a recent visit.  His thought provoking remark inspired me to take a closer look at the art hanging in our modest studio and to consider just what attracts me to a work of art.  What are my criteria for purchasing and hanging paintings, engravings, watercolours, in a space?

Airborne, an oil by American artist Rose Marie Glen, evokes the Kent marshes in a surreal light, yet portrays an area of the American South settled by the English in the 17th century.  Visitors all see a different world in this painting.

I would like to say that I am attracted by colour, but that is not the case at all.  I am drawn to the emotion in a painting, or what seems to me is hidden in it.  What makes art art? Why do some pieces fetch enormous amounts and others very little? Collectors collect because of an artist's value, as an investment.  Some store their art away in climate controlled warehouses with strict inventories, as good as money in the bank.   Other collectors start young and buy modestly, their tastes and budgets maturing over time, their collections reflecting that; their walls cluttered with pieces they could never bear to part with. They may focus on an artist or sculptor, a time period, a style.  Others collect in a purely acquisitive way.  My thought is listen to the experts but trust yourself and collect what you love.  Chances are whatever you choose will hold or increase its value and will provide untold hours of pleasure.

Andrew Davidson's The Wood, 1992, (top) pairs organically with
a Victorian hand coloured engraving

A work of art can also ground a space.  I think of "Girl with a Dolphin", installed by David Wynne in 1973 at the Tower Hotel near Tower Bridge in London.  Years ago I walked past that sculpture every day on my way to the tube and it inspired me - fortified me for the journey ahead, cheered me when I was down, indeed became a confidante, a silent friend.

Photographs, especially shot on B&W film on archival paper,
make a powerful statement in a collection.

What do I collect? I'm drawn to contemporary oils and acrylics because they are affordable, because I believe in supporting living artists, and because they mark our times. I admire the precision and clarity of eighteenth century engravings and botanicals, and watercolours, often produced by amateurs. I think of artists like Van Gogh who sold paintings to pay for meals and never lived to experience his own greatness reflected back to him. Quite unlike the working lives of the dandy court painters, who were the ultimate in personal PR. The careful portrayal of faces in 16th and 17th century portraits, the exquisite details of the lace on their collars, the extravagance of their clothing heralding or perhaps only alluding to their status, ask more questions than they answer. I've also begun to explore the world of miniatures, extravagant calling cards of previous centuries.   What will you choose?