You’ve got unlimited budget and unlimited wall space! What would you get from Frieze Masters? That’s the premise for this review, the same as our review of Frieze London, and here’s my choices. A little harder than Frieze London as there’s so many pieces that could make a wonderful collection. It’s more about trying to find the best pieces by the artists you like.
1. I’d have to have this Gunther Uecker from Skarstedt, partly because I started making nail paintings myself before I discovered he had. (Shameless link to one of my coloured nail paintings http://robertdunt.com/distortion-form-paintings.html) These look great and he’s in the Tate Modern collection. What more could you want?
Gunther Uecker, Structure Field 1962, emulsion paint and nails on canvas on wood, 60 x 60 x 15 cm
2. A nice Braque from Hauser & Wirth, that’ll do nicely. Not a bad example either with all his lovely colours and a bit of white scratching out. A good purchase.
Georges Braque, Verre et Compotier, 1931, oil on canvas, 38.2 x 46.3 cm
3. There has to be a Sigmar Polke to take home. The real question was which one and there were a good amount on display from paintings to photos. This is my pick of the crop as it has the classic construction where you can see the stretcher through the surface of the work.
Sigmar Polke, Untitled (laundry basket with ax), 1986, varnish and acrylic on polyester canvas, 150 x 180 x 4 cm
4. OK so there’s going to be two Patrick Heron’s that I’m taking home. This red one with discs and squares from Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert and this earlier more stripy one from Richard Green. The second is a bargain at £485,000.
Patrick Heron, Three Blues in Cadmium Deep: November 1962, 1962, oil on canvas, 152.4 x 101.6 cm
Patrick Heron, Red Painting : April 1956, oil on canvas, 127 x 101.6cm
5. It seems a shame to go shopping at Frieze Masters and not go for a bit of antiquity, that always adds sophistication to a collection so I’m having this Sarcophagus Mask from Sycamore Ancient Art Geneva.
Sarcophagus Mask, Egyptian, Third Intermediate Period, 21th Dynasty, 1085-950 B.C. Painted wood and linnen with painted stucco. The inside re-inforced with leather.
6. Likewise it would be dreadful to head home without a Japanese wood block print and this snow scene captured my eye at London Gallery Tokyo/Sebastian Izzard Asian Art New York.
Utagawa Hiroshige, Night Snow at Kambara, colour woodblock print, 24.8 x 37.1 cm
7. A lovely David Hockney line drawing from Offer Waterman would boost the haul so far. Just noticed he used a ruler to do the window in the background. That hard line and soft line conrast is quite Ben Nicholson.
David Hockney, Celia Paris, 1969, ink on paper, 43.2 x 35.6 cm
8. One of my faves, a cracking late Picasso from Helly Nahmad. It always seem that it’s missed just what good colourist Picasso was. If he’s going to use green and grey, he used green and grey. No fussing.
9. A nice Ben Nicholson from Richard Green for just under a million pounds. Yummy. Read somewhere that he did these more representational ones as pot boilers and to be more commercial. It seems to have worked. Interesting that his more abstract work on display is cheaper, sometimes quite a lot cheaper.
Ben Nicholson OM, St Ives Harbour (Summer) Aug 31 - 51, oil and pencil on boatd, 36.8 x 46 cm
10. It would just be wonderful have a Barbara Hepworth sculpture to look at every day and this is a goodie from Richard Green.
Dame Barbara Hepworth CBE, Three Forms (OCtober 3rd), slate, 21.6 x 31.8 x 15.2 cm, conceived and executed in 1966.
11. Let’s round it off with a superb Indian Miniature from Prahlad Bubbar.
Krishna and Radha After a Night of Love, Illustration to the Rasikapriya, Attributed to Sanju, a Master of the Second Generation after Nainsukh, c.1825, opaque watercolour and gold on paper.
According to the Apple Watch I walked 1.79 miles in 2 hours 13 mins for this review, burning 584 calories, and this is what it looks like when you’re wandering around Frieze London.
Review words by Lacey Dunt, Photography by John Dunt
Robert Dunt is the Founder of ArtTop10.com www.robertdunt.com www.rdme.co.uk
