The Decline of British Art & Antiques Fairs

This issue might show a bigger worldwide problem for the art market

Glenn Burgess

Britain’s economy is facing challenges, and the art and antiques trade is feeling the impact. Many well-established fairs, such as Art & Antiques for Everyone in Birmingham, the Antique Home & Vintage Fair in York, and several in London, have been canceled in recent months. Even upscale events like Masterpiece London, which used to draw over 30,000 visitors, have been affected.

These cancellations raise questions about the state of this sector in the UK. Is it a temporary issue, or is there a broader international problem at play? In a global context, the International Monetary Fund predicts that Britain will be the only G7 economy in a recession in 2023. Factors like Covid, Brexit, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have driven up living and trading costs in the UK.

The Swiss owner of the Art Basel fair franchise, MCH, cited rising costs and a decrease in international exhibitors as the main reasons for canceling Masterpiece. In 2022, Masterpiece had mostly become a British art and antiques fair, with only a small portion of dealers from outside the UK.

Brexit and the pandemic created difficulties for international galleries, especially those from the EU, leading many to stop participating, along with collectors from the EU.

Despite these challenges, some dealers, like Rhonda Long-Sharp, who specialises in modern and contemporary prints, still have a significant portion of their business coming from the UK.

They are exploring new opportunities, such as the London Summer Art Fair, albeit in a smaller format, as they adapt to the changing landscape of art and antiques fairs in the UK.

While Britain’s middle market fair scene may be shrinking after Brexit, there is still considerable wealth in London. A recent report from the Equality Trust charity revealed that the number of UK billionaires increased by 20% to 177 last year.

In February, the FTSE 100 index reached an all-time high, and London saw a record number of homes valued at over £5 million sold, according to estate agents Savills.

Isaac Pineus, co-director of Stockholm-based Modernity, which specialises in rare and high-grade 20th-century Nordic design, valued mainly between £5,000 and £50,000, has traditionally found London to be a prosperous market.

However, he noted that the previous year’s fair at Masterpiece wasn’t as successful, possibly due to economic challenges faced by some attendees.

As a result, Modernity has decided not to exhibit at a summer fair in the capital. Instead, they will continue to showcase their offerings at TEFAF New York in May and PAD London in October, taking advantage of the influx of international visitors during Frieze. Modernity has been doing well in its new 2,100 sq. ft gallery in Pimlico, serving clients from all over London.

A two-tier structure

The extravagant spending on elegant Danish dining tables and Swedish chandeliers to adorn multi-million-pound residences in Chelsea and Notting Hill illustrates the current “two-tier” structure prevailing in the art and antiques trade.

In 2013, economists Branko Milanovic and Christoph Lakner used World Bank data to create a graph depicting global income gains from the poorest to the wealthiest between 1988 and 2008.

This graph showed significant improvements in the developing world, a drop for the working and middle classes in developed economies, and a steep rise for the global 1%. This visualisation of how neoliberal capitalism has impacted global wealth resembles an elephant, with the trunk of the wealthiest 1% rising almost vertically.

The economic policies implemented in Britain since the Thatcher era have made it challenging for the country’s professional classes to maintain their accustomed living standards.

Nowadays, if they have a few thousand pounds to spare, they tend to invest it in helping their children navigate Britain’s increasingly competitive housing market rather than in art or antiques.

Charles Plante, a London-based dealer in 18th- and 19th-century works on paper valued between £1,000 and £5,000, previously successful at Olympia’s summer Art & Antiques Fair, has shifted his business to the US, focusing on the San Francisco Fall Show in October. He cites more financial opportunity and a greater appreciation for objects and connoisseurship in the United States than in England.

He also points out the rapid decline of events like Olympia, influenced by changes in media representation. Magazines that once featured interiors with interesting objects and porcelain shifted to showcasing minimalist, empty rooms. Additionally, television shows like Flog It!, Cash in the Attic, and Dickinson’s Real Deal have encouraged selling over collecting.

Events concentrating on modern furnishings or contemporary art still seem viable in post-Brexit Britain. For instance, the Winter edition of the Decorative Fair in Battersea drew significant business in January, attracting around 10,000 visitors. Frieze London remains a vital date on the contemporary art world calendar.

However, the discontinuation of Masterpiece raises questions about the future of Frieze Masters, which also targets the affluent “cross-collecting” community, albeit at a more business-friendly time of year.

The underlying issue is the erosion of Middle Britain’s traditional collecting culture due to local and global economic forces. This is not exclusive to post-Brexit Britain.

New collectors no longer start at a low price point and work their way up; they begin by purchasing works for $20,000 or $30,000. The source of their wealth varies, from inheritances to careers in writing or the film industry.

In San Francisco, Plante is selling to “upper-class Americans” who acquire several of his drawings to create a French “salon style” in their beautiful homes.

So, quietly and without much attention, the lower tier of this particular business has been squeezed, affecting Britain’s art and antiques fairs.