London Original Print Fair and A Buyer's Guide to Prints

Yesterday I went to the 34th London Original Print Fair at the Royal Academy of Arts. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for all those who like fine art prints. I've been in previous years and enjoy:

• the fact I can see fine art prints by leading artists past and present
• view a lot of work by people I've never seen before - and I always come away with new 'names of artists to follow'

This is an annual event around about this time of year at the RA - who have got a massive space for the exhibition and a lot of printmakers among their members.

Tickets are £12 (on the website0 and concessions are available.

• Half-price tickets for National Art Pass.
• RA Friends receive free entry.

The fair is on 25-28th April 2019 i.e. started on Thursday and is also on today and tomorrow (10am – 6pm). 

I took "himself" (free entry on my Friends card!) who declared he was very pleasantly surprised - and interested - and would have stayed much longer if he didn't have to go and catch a train for a prior commitment.

I came away with A Buyer's Guide to Prints by Helen Rosslyn (a prints and drawings specialist and a Director and the Organiser of the London Original Print Fair) which was published by the Royal Academy of Arts last September. It's got good explanations of all the various types of prints and technical terms plus useful notes on what to expect from a printmaker, how to frame them and answers to a number of frequently asked questions by actual and potential collectors of fine art prints.

All for £9.99 which makes it affordable as well as useful and accessible!

What does it look like

I've uploaded a bunch of photos to my Facebook Page - see London Original Print Fair 2019 - if you want to see the scale and nature of this art fair for printmakers and fine art print lovers. Below are a few of the pics I took.

Which artists can you see 

The printmaking artists being exhibited by the various stands at the fair include Brueghel, Cranach, Hogarth, Monet, Whistler, Picasso, Matisse, Francis Bacon, Barbara Hepworth, Roy Lichtenstein, Lucien Freud, Louise Bourgeois, Victor Pasmore - and more from the past.

Contemporary artists include: David Hockney, Grayson Perry, Peter Blake, Norman Ackroyd (everywhere!), Chris Orr, Paula Rego, Mick Rooney, David Shrigley, Anita Klein, Adam Dant et al.

Which galleries are exhibiting

This page on their website provide links to the explanations of each stand at the 2019 Fair.

The galleries which impressed me include:

• Andrew Edmunds - specialises in English and French 18th to 19th century prints and drawings, satire, caricature, the unusual and macabre. LOTS of Hogarth

• C. G. Boerner, New York + Düsseldorf - had some extremely impressive prints - including Durer, Cranach, Monet, Degas and Whistler

C. G. Boerner had a stand with an emphasis on art history

• Galerie Boisserée, Germany - impressive roster of artists - and is exhibiting Picasso, Matisse and Hockney prints

Picasso, Matisse and Hockney

• Brook Gallery - has the wonderful print by Chris Orr of the Parliament of Long Noses. Based in Budleigh Salterton in Devon, the gallery was founded in June 1997 specialising in Fine Art Original Print. I liked them - friendly and not pushy - and they also sell online

Brook Gallery

Parliament of the Long Noses by Chris Orr MBE RA

The scene inside the House of Commons is in everybody's mind these days. The procedures, language and voting system have become shockingly familiar. Politics has split the nation and our belief in truth and behavior is challenged. I began this print at the beginning of February 2019 in response to the constant kicking of the can down the road in the Brexit shenanigans. Throughout the design and production of the print, the broadcast media has been bombarding me, hour by hour, and minute by minute with the twists and turns of this tragic farce. 

• CCA Galleries & Worton Hall - contemporary gallery - responsible for the display of Peter Blake's latest project of which more later

Ways of Making by Peter Blake - includes a number of printmaking techniques

• Marlborough Graphics - works by Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Louise Bourgeois, Lucian Freud, Maggi Hambling, Bill Jacklin, Ken Kiff, Leon Kossoff, Hughie O’Donoghue, Victor Pasmore, Paula Rego and Joe Tilson. Not as impressive as I was expecting - but it did have the Lucian Freud after John Constable....
• Osborne Samuel - based in Mayfair, specialises in specialises in Modern British Painting and Sculpture and Prints. Has some wonderful Lucian Freud Etchings on display + Hockney Lithograph which appealed to me (There were lots of the Hockney iPad drawings of flowers elsewhere in the fair but very few lithographs)

Lilies - lithograph by David Hockney
Etchings by Lucian Freud - top right is (I think) Celia Paul and bottom right is his daughter Bella

• Peter Harrington modern, contemporary prints. Website seems to be out of kilter with what was on display.

Peter Harrington Gallery - Francis Bacon trio and Hockney iPad prints on right 

• TAG Fine Arts has the Adam Dant - much loved by me (the map nerd in me loves the maps) of which more next week re his stint as General Election Artist of 2015

Adam Dant Hand tinted lithograph print on 300 gsm HP Saunders Waterford

Other galleries and dealers are

• Advanced Graphics London - contemporary
• ars, -tis, f., Germany - contemporary
• Art China - contemporary - includes some interesting woodcut work that I liked
• Aspinwall Editions, New York  - contemporary
• Atelier Rose Gray - contemporary British
• Emanuel von Baeyer - art dealer
• Alan Cristea Gallery - contemporary
• Galerie Documents 15, Paris - contemporary
• Dreipunkt, Germany - contemporary
• Eames Fine Art - contemporary
• Enitharmon Editions - contemporary
• Flowers Gallery - contemporary
• Gerrish Fine Art - display includes examples of Vorticism, art of the First World War and linocuts from the Grosvenor School. 
• Gilden's Art Gallery - 20th century
• Glasgow Print Studio - a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the production, promotion and selling of original fine-art prints.
• Hanga Ten - Contemporary Japanese prints
• Elizabeth Harvey Lee
• Himmelblau, Finland
• Rebecca Hossack Gallery
• Gwen Hughes - specialise in the work of artists born or active in Britain, mostly during the second half of the 20th century.
• Lyndsey Ingram
• Bernard Jacobson Gallery - celebrates 50 years as a print publisher in 2019
• Jealous - a contemporary gallery and print publisher and print studio based in Shoreditch - showing David Shrigley 
• Kunstverket Galleri, Norway - interestingly different
• Lelong Editions, Paris
• Long & Ryle
• Martinez, D, Paris - Specialising in fine prints from the 16th to the 20th centuries
• Paragon Press - founded in 1986
• Julian Page - contemporary
• Paupers Press - works with many leading UK and International artists by commission from galleries and publishers as well as directly from the artist.
• Pratt Contemporary - fine art printing and publishing studio
• Rabley Gallery - new works focusing on monoprints
• The Redfern Gallery - Modern British and Contemporary art including prints
• Royal Academy of Arts - presenting their own printmakers - manned by a very bored individual!
• Royal Society of Painter Printmakers - art society
• Sophie Schneideman and Benjamin Spademan rare books and prints
• Karsten Schubert - contemporary art dealer based in London
• Shapero Modern - displaying Lichenstein and Hepworth
• Paul Stolper - publisher of contemporary fine art prints
• Stoney Road Press, Dublin - portfolio now represents a comprehensive overview of Irish contemporary visual art practice. Some lovely colours which just said "Irish".