You know when you have those days that are just really
wonderful that you know will still stick with your for a while? I love those. Wednesday was one of those days.
We’ve been busy, busy bees here in the land of Christie’s
Masters without too much free time and tons of reading and research to do in
the off hours. Between working on
our first major graded assignment, the oh so invigorating Object Status Report
(where we have to do a full catalog report, historical review, and curatorial
proposal for a work of art at Tate Britain) and reading Kant, Longinus, Fried,
Clark, et. al. our brains have been in hyperactive overdrive for a while. Wednesday’s activities provided a much
needed and wholly unexpected treat for a weary grad student.
It started with a Pumpkin Spice Latte. My fabulous mother sent me a Starbucks
gift card in the mail, so I treated myself to a Pumpkin Spice Latte!! Not only
was it real coffee, as opposed to the 40 pence instant powder that we drink on
a daily basis, but it was chocked full of the rich pumpkin and nutmeg flavors
that I’d been craving since the leaves began to change colors. After my minor, but deliciously major,
indulgence, I met up with my tutor group from Christie’s and Lizzie, our wildly
effervescent professor/advisor, for a trip out of the city to visit the home of
a private collector. He took us
into his cute little stereotypical British home with a picket fence and super
slim hallways and corridors to see the works he had collected over the
years. His walls were covered with
paintings by well-known and well-loved artists of whom the collector had met,
known well, or simply admired their work.
After a bit of chatting about the Polish Expressionists he
had collected and hearing a few anecdotes from his collection experience and
work acquisitions, we found ourselves piled on his itty bitty staircase with
him filtering out stories from work to work up the walls. Then he got to a piece that I had been
eyeing since we walked in the door.
A simple but captivating drawing that turned out to be a self-portrait
by none other than Peter de Francia! I have been a fan of the underrated and
sadly mostly unknown artist for some time, so much so that I had requested to
do my Object Status Report on one of his paintings at the Tate but was turned
down due to Lizzie’s worry that there would not be enough research material.
Anyway, as we were moving on, I pulled Matt (the collector)
aside and asked him where he had purchased the de Francia works. First he was amazed that I knew the
artist and inquired about my knowledge of him and what I thought about a few of
the things I had seen or read.
Then he goes, “Oh and Peter sold me the works. I knew him well.”
WHAT?!?!
After bonding a bit more over his painting The Bombing of Sakiet, which is fabulous and everyone should know it, Matt told me that he had something to show me later. After looking at a few more incredible works, he went to his storage room filled with the paintings that he couldn’t hang for lack of wall space, and pulled out one of Peter de Francia’s studies for the Bombing of Sakiet, a painting I had seen time and again from my research online and at the de Francia exhibition from a few years ago. The very same painting that I had looked at over and over in photos, and I was holding it! It was a surreal experience.
After all of my excitement, Matt even allowed me to borrow
his police folder of sorts of all of the information he had on de Francia and
the letters they had exchanged to help me with my work. And after seeing all of the
amazing things he had been able to collect without going to auction and
spending millions of dollars, he specialized in buying artwork for reasonable
prices from artists and small auctions rather than collecting the “big names” for
big bucks, all I want to do is go out and start buying artwork. Maybe someday.
Our group had a delicious, although much more expensive than
my taste, Chinese lunch before spending the afternoon at White Cube Bermondsey
to see an exhibition that Lizzie had been particularly fond of. Then I spent a time at UCL getting in a
bit of research before talking Chris into going to the Sluice Art Fair. One of our gallery guides from the week
before puts on the fair every year to raise awareness and money for emerging
British artists and put us on the guest list to attend the opening.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay long at the fair, which was
very neat, because I had a ticket to see Arsenal play LIVE AT Emirates
stadium!!! I treated myself to an
Arsenal scarf to fit in with the crowd and made my way in with my friend Joel
who was kind enough to offer the extra ticket. I bought us both a “lemonade,” which turned out to be 7-up
(go figure), and walked out to the bright lights and gorgeous green field. It was Elysian. After running the circuit around the
stadium for weeks, I finally made it inside and got to watch my first Champions
League match in person.
It was a truly wonderful day in London.
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