4 April/5 April 2020 ★ FTWeekend 13
Collecting
It may be a first-world problem, but
September’s art market season is
looking decidedly congested. With Art
Basel postponed to September 17-20
and the cancellation of this year’s
Masterpiece fair in London, fairs have
effectively shut down until after their
traditional summer break. Other
events postponed to September include
the respected Art Basel satellite event,
Liste (September 14-20), Gallery
Weekend Berlin (September 11-13)
and, in London, the inaugural Eye of
the Collector (September 8-11).
These will join events already
scheduled for autumn, such as La
Biennale Paris (September 17-21), the
Lapada fair in London (September
18-23) and Contemporary Istanbul
(September 24-27).
Nazy Vassegh, founder of Eye of the
Collector, believes that “if we beat this
[Covid-19], we could see even more
events in September.” But, she adds,
“There will be a slower pace — people
will think twice before going back to
the hamster wheel of five events in one
month. The psychological impact of
this virus has already hit at the core
of our industry and, as art fair
organisers, we need to make sure that
what we are doing is more in line with
this new world.”Also postponed until the autumn is the
launch of London’s Cromwell Place,
a gallery hub run via a flexible
membership scheme (it had been due
to open in May). Managing director
Preston Benson says that the decision
was made in consultation with its 31Gallerists eye
the future
with caution
The Art Market| Autumn diary looks alarmingly
full; online legal issues exposed; artists rally to
support South African hospital. ByMelanie Gerlis
Above: a 19th-century Frenchtrompe l’oeilpainting of a nun peeking out from behind a shutter, part of the
RafaelValls sale at Sotheby’s; left and below: blankets by Nolan Oswald Dennis and Samson Kambalu,
created for an appeal supporting Johannesburg’s Witkoppen Health and Welfare Clinic—Sotheby’s;GoodmanGallerybut suggests that perhaps Cromwell
Place’s 13 rentable exhibition spaces
could provide an alternative solution
for some cancelled art fairs.As galleries continue to migrate online,
art lawyer Diana Wierbicki, a partner
at Withers, wonders how many have
sales contracts that reflect the
increased exposure that comes with
new ways of operating. “Just as with
traditional art sales, galleries need to
make sure their contracts dictate
the jurisdiction [in the event of a
dispute] when there are multiplelocations involved,” she points out —
using as an example a German-based
gallery that sells a work to a buyer in
Brazil through Art Basel’s online
Viewing Rooms.
Online platforms generally state that
they have no legal responsibility for
transactions — though this is worth
checking in the terms and conditions —
and will state their own jurisdiction
should there be a direct dispute with
the platform (Art Basel’s Viewing
Rooms are governed by Swiss law).
Wierbicki advises galleries to defer to
the jurisdiction in which they operate— provided these have “robust case law
for art transactions”, such as in the UK
or New York. Overall, she says, the law
has been adapting to online sales, but
the recent coronavirus rush means that
the system has been “jolted into new
situations a little bit blind”.One auction that was always planned to
happen online was the Sotheby’s
offering of 100 works from the stock of
the London Old Masters dealer Rafael
Valls (April 1-8). The auction house has
found that Old Masters sell well
virtually, particularly those priced
under £30,000. Above this level,
concerns creep in about the condition
of unseen works, notes Andrew
Fletcher, Sotheby’s head of Old Master
paintings. The auction house reports
more first-time bidders through this
route than at its live sales (56 per cent
of the total versus 33 per cent since
2017). Many went on to buy a work.
“There’s a whole world of people who
enjoy clicking a mouse more than
picking up a phone,” Fletcher says.
Valls and his team were attracted by
such results, Fletcher says. Their
mostly 17th-to-19th century works are
priced at attractive levels to encourage
bidding — though it’s fair to say that
the low estimates also reflect a
recalibrated Old Masters market. Top-
priced is an aerial view of Ostend
(c1675) by Hendrik van Minderhout,
which Valls bought for £140,500
(including fees) in 2013 and is now
offered for between £20,000 and
£30,000. Other highlights include
three anonymous works: a 17th-
century Dutch school painting of a
King Charles spaniel (£1,500-£2,000),
a 19th-century French schooltrompe
l’oeilof a nun peeking through a shutter
(£6,000-£8,000) and another 19th-
century French painting of sea shells
and molluscs (£4,000-£6,000).As South Africa becomes the latest
country to go into lockdown, Goodman
Gallery has launched a set of artist-
designed blankets to raise money for
Johannesburg’s Witkoppen Health and
Welfare Clinic, which caters to 1.3 m
people in deprived communities. “The
healthcare system in South Africa is
only as strong as its weakest link,”
notes the clinic in a statement, “and
sadly Region A of the City of
Johannesburg is a weak link.”
Blankets designed by Goodman
artists Broomberg & Chanarin, Nolan
Oswald Dennis, Reza Farkhondeh &
Ghada Amer, and Samson Kambalu are
priced at £500 each (editions of 50)
with all proceeds going to the clinic.
They’re available via goodman-
gallery.com until April 30.The blame game is under
way following last
Thursday’s decision by
Arkady Dvorkovich,
president of the global chess
body Fide, to suspend the
world title Candidates at
Ekaterinburg half-way
through the 14-round
contest to decide Magnus
Carlsen’s next challenger.
Dvorkovich acted
following the Russian
announcement that
international air flights
would be banned
indefinitely as from Friday.
Fide’s intention is to play
the postponed second half
later this year, which could
prove too optimistic.
Arguably Dvorkovich, who
admitted he made a decision
to suspend “after just a few
seconds of thinking”, could
have allowed the Candidates
to continue until its planned
end of April 4, and then to
have asked for a charter
flight to enable GMs to leave
Russia. There were stringent
medical precautions inplace, so the risk was low.
The reward would have
been an opponent for
Carlsen for a title match at
its scheduled date inDecember. As it is now, the
future of the next world
championship series has
become unclear.
2361
An expert who I won’t name
admitted in a book that he
had taken an hour to solve
this simple puzzle. Can you
do better? White mates in
three moves against any
defence, and it shouldn’t be
that hard because the black
king is trapped by a superior
force deep in white territory.
Solution, back page1.
2345678A B C D E F G HDiversions
POLYMATH1,068 SET BY AARDVARK
CHESSLEONARD BARDEN
CROSSWORD16,443 SET BY MUDD
Polymath 1,068 Set by Aardvark
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1 Common name for the
ailment “mal de mer” (11)
7 Ancient Phoenician city on
the north African coast near
Carthage (5)
11 Of vegetables, cut into thin
strips (8)
12 Free trade agreement
between Argentina, Brazil,
Paraguay and Uruguay (8)
13 French grand opera by
Berlioz premiered in 1863
(3,7)
14 Ancient Indian writing
system based on Aramaic (6)
15 Brightest star in the
constellation Orion (5)
16 Dry white wine, either still
or sparkling, from the Loire
valley (7)
18 Former unit of currency
replaced by the euro (3)
21 Grey and black corvid bird
endemic to Myanmar (6,7)
24 Protective stud or metal
plate fixed to the bottom of
a shoe (3)
25 Island in the Indian Ocean
near Mauritius, a French
overseas department (7)
26 Scented, superior grade of
black tea, made using young
leaves (5)
29 Tropical evergreen which
yields yellow, edible fruit (6)
30 Ancient inhabitant of south-
west Palestine, enemy of the
Israelites (10)
31 Region of Italy which forms
the toe of its “boot” (8)
32 Gaseous element forming
78 percent of the earth’s
atmosphere (8)
33 Insectivorous lizard with
immoveable eyelids and
adhesive toes (5)
34 US circus performer who
created the clown character
Weary Willie (6,5)
DOWN
2 Strong coarse brandy,
literally “water of life” in
French (3,2,3)
3 Animal puppet which
appeared with comic
entertainer Bob Carolgees
(4,3,3)
4 One of the 26 political
divisions of Switzerland (6)
5 Actress who played Meg
Mortimer in the TV soap
Crossroads (5,6)
6 Greek island in the
Aegean Sea, birthplace of
Pythagoras (5)
8 Part of an insect’s body that
bears the wings and legs (6)
9 -------- Water, Cumbrian lake
fed by the waterfall Scale
Force (8)
10 US percussionist who co-
formed the Jazz Messengers
in the mid-1950s (3,6)
17 Slow, triple-time dance
imitated from the Polish
mazurka (11)
19 Herbaceous plant also called
bistort, a supposed cure for
snake-bite (9)
20 Mixed-vegetable soup of
Italian origin (10)
22 US state whose capital city is
Dover (8)
23 Main presenter of the BBC
Radio 4 programme Home
Truths (4,4)
27 Grade l listed Georgian
country house in South
Harting, Sussex (6)
28 Harsh settlement forced on
the defeated or powerless
(6)
30 Devotional song or hymn
used to praise the deity (5)Crossword 16,443 Set by Mudd
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1 That’s the extent of my vision,
to the best of my knowledge
(2,3,2,1,3,3)
10 Close to paintbrush a colour
ran (5)
11 Death thus returning, manage
to find private investigator? (9)
12 Promotion essential to story
and commercial – see what I’m
saying? (3-4)
13 Serious film about composer,
humourless ultimately (7)
14 Sloth is dawdling, leaving
exceptional runners always at
the front (5)
16 Steps taken automatically to
seal car off (9)
19 Berth secured by gallant
newspaper worker (9)
20 Old character I see that pens
record (5)
22 One million, lovely charge (7)
25 London borough cut Japanese
funds back (7)
27 Leader on the march beat old
PM (4,5)
28 Vessel in amphora or tankard
(5)
29 New – as a hoe? (6-8)DOWN
2 Band on strike in sleazy
establishment (5,4)
3 Turn seat, dropping head (5)
4 Reform Act gutless, get better
people involved (9)
5 Trendy: check out music genre
(5)
6 A lake in one nation – or
another? (9)
7 Scratch record (5)
8 Flat terrain, not wet, for rider
(7)
9 Potential burner nippy, we
hear? (6)
15 Last of silver medals forced on
swimmer (3,6)
17 Drawing animal, short novel in
mind (9)
18 Turn pad in silly game like
cricket (3,3,3)
19 Minding language, outsiders in
stag party (7)
21 All the same, a street where
yellow cab drives? (6)
23 Set to inspire love primarily,
love god! (5)
24 Welcome use of needle, making
Muslim garment (5)
26 Drug expert (5)Jotter padCrossword competitions suspended
Dear readers — we have suspended the Crossword and
Polymath competitions while our editors work from home.
We hope you continue to enjoy completing them until
normal newsroom services resume.South was revelling in his
good hand, deciding with
what to open when, to his
amazement, North opened
ahead of him. Then, East
started bidding too.
Everything was building
into a very strange deal...
North-South had enjoyed
few cards all evening and, at
last, they had a chance to
close out a rubber with a
vulnerable slam. East made
a Weak Jump-overcall of 2S
and was raised by West but,
when North freely rebid hisK♠and South won with A♠.
Now, dummy contained
three winners and, having
drawn trumps, South could
cross to dummy’s hearts
and cash J♠.
What did West think East
had led: away from A♠at
trick 1 against a grand slam?
A moment’s thought would
have led East to realising
that covering Q♠was the
wrong play, but credit
declarer with the idea of
playing Q♠from dummy
instead of low.BRIDGEPAUL MENDELSON
hearts, South used Roman
Key-card Blackwood and
convertedtheresponsetothe
grand slam in his own suit.
When West lead 8♠,declarer saw that, unless J♥
fell in three rounds, dummy
was not ideal. He could
discard 8♦and 10♦ on♥KQ,
but there was still a
diamond loser left. Indeed,
as the cards lie, that is what
will happen. However, South
casually rose with dummy’s
Q♠, East lazily covered withDealer: North N/S Game
North East South West
1H 2S 3C 3S
4H NB 4NT NB
5S NB 7CQ
A K
6 4
4 2ESNWA
4
A
A K9
9K
J
Q
1010
6 3
K 7
7 6 47J 3
Q59
310 7 26 5 2
8 5Q J 9 8J 10 8
38 4
2Jotter padincoming paying members, who were
“pretty unanimous”. “We are, of
course, not charging people for the
time they are not in the building,”
Benson adds — a relatively generous
approach these days. David Maupin,
co-founder of Lehmann Maupin,
says the gallery remains committed to
the hub. “It is more important than
ever to support our artists and
community,” he says.
The £20m development of Cromwell
Place, which combines five Grade II-
listed Georgian townhouses in South
Kensington, has already been more
than four years in the planning. When
building work was stopped it was just a
few weeks from completion, Benson
says. He is taking “each day at a time”,APRIL 4 2020 Section:Weekend Time: 2/4/2020 - 16: 39 User: andrew.higton Page Name: WKD13, Part,Page,Edition: WKD, 13 , 1