Art from around the world, rarities and rediscoveries at Frieze Master

We take a leap back in time by millions of years at the neighbouring stand of David Aaron, who is presenting no fewer than two fossilised dinosaur skulls: a rare herbivore dating back 150 million years (with an asking price of around one million pounds), and a more recent Triceratops (60 per cent complete, priced at 650,000 pounds). Nature, too, can be a sculptor, as in the case of the complex organic shapes of minerals excavated and selected by humans for their aesthetic value, on sale for around 70,000 pounds.

Testa di Triceratopo dalla galleria David Aaron

The fair’s most successful section is Spotlight, comprising 30 galleries, each selected to present a solo exhibition focusing on a historical artist little known to the international market. The opportunity to rediscover works that have unjustly been consigned to the ‘oblivion’ of art history, at prices significantly lower than those of established names, attracts many buyers, and the galleries have already recorded several sales on the opening day.
The Richard Saltoun Gallery, whose programme explicitly aims to rediscover 20th-century female artists, is showcasing surreal and introspective works by Manina (1918–2010), an Italian-Austrian pioneer of female Surrealism, and is in negotiations to sell one of her works to a museum. Her works on paper start at a few tens of thousands of euros, whilst her paintings fetch up to 150,000 pounds.
The Surrealist influence, particularly in an erotic vein, animates the drawings of Jim Amaral, a 93-year-old artist of Colombian origin represented by the Lamb Gallery in London: his erotic drawings are on offer for between 13,000 and 39,000 pounds, whilst a curious limited-edition series of ‘spoons’ is priced at 4,500 pounds. The Portuguese-speaking gallery Perve presents another artist approaching his centenary, Joao Artur da Silva, with works featuring modernist geometries spanning six decades and prices ranging from a few thousand euros for works on paper to tens of thousands for his most significant oil paintings and sculptures.
The Gallery of Everything’s fascination with self-taught artists outside the ‘canon’ continues, such as the pastel works of the Czech artist Anna Zemankova (1908–1986), a spiritualist botanist who only found success in the final decade of her life, with her works typically selling for between 40,000 and 70,000 pounds. Italian art is also well represented, with the Milan-based 10 a.m. Art showcasing the Bergamo-born artist Tilde Poli (1924–2006), whose works, characterised by controlled and abstract geometries, are on offer starting from a few tens of thousands of euros.

The range of post-war Italian art remains strong, with two former partners exhibiting separately at the fair for the first time: the Voena gallery is presenting a wide selection of works by Lucio Fontana, ranging from the ‘Tagli milionari’ to a less expensive but unusual small pair of ceramics (less than 10 cm) depicting warriors (asking price over 50,000 pounds), as well as the characteristic works of Mimmo Rotella with prices ranging from 100 to over 300,000 pounds.
Of particular interest is the juxtaposition of a photograph of the ruins of Beirut taken by Gabriele Basilico in 1991 with an 18th-century ‘Capriccio delle rovine di Roma’ by Giovanni Paolo Panini (at 450,000 pounds, more than ten times the price of the contemporary photograph).
Robilant is offering two much-photographed ‘mirror’ works by Pistoletto, as well as several works by Fontana, including a striking bright green canvas from the ‘Buchi’ series priced at around 750,000 pounds, and a number of ceramics priced at around 100,000 pounds.

Uno ‘strappo’ di Mimmo Rotella datato 1957 e due piccole ceramiche di Lucio Fontana raffiguranti Gladiatori alla galleria Voena

Ben Brown’s international gallery also features several Italian works, starting with Alighero Boetti with two large compositions in ballpoint pen in various colours (550–650 thousand euros), and several works by Fontana, including a 1958 ‘experimental’ canvas featuring scratches, cuts and holes, priced at 800,000 euros, and a large bronze ‘Natura’ valued at over a million.

The gallery owner Vito Schnabel, son of the artist Julian, a star of 1980s New York, is presenting two paintings from 1983 linked to that period: a huge canvas by Clemente, a perfect example of the Transavantgarde, priced at $850,000, and an unusual work by Ai Weiwei, a painting featuring two nudes influenced by his studies with Sean Scully in New York in 1983, priced at €380,000, (another painting from the same period has been sold).

Several galleries have focused on solo exhibitions featuring the same artist, which help to shed light on their respective historical and stylistic developments. Axel Vervoordt brings the sombre and contemplative tones of the Slovenian-Italian Zoran Music to the fair, whilst the Beverly Hills-based Marc Selwyn Gallery offers a glimpse into the unsettling work of the sculptor Lee Bontecou.

Far more cheerful was the exhibition at the Luxembourg Gallery of the experimental works that blend colour and letters by Mira Schendel, whose monotypes are on sale from 30,000 dollars, drawings ranging from $100,000 to over $300,000 for an elaborate triptych, and paintings from the 1980s that reach and exceed $1 million.

Sculpture is also well represented, with the British firm Bowman Sculpture making a striking impression with no fewer than two enormous aluminium works by Eduardo Paolozzi, ‘Kalasan’ and ‘Trishula’, each on offer at 280,000 pounds.

Frammento di meteorite (4,5 miliardi di anni) proposto a 70.000 sterline dalla galleria ArtAncien

The variety of galleries and approaches allows for the development of different narratives, even when starting from the same historical and cultural context, as in the case of Japan. In the Spotlight section, the Takato Kano + Iskra gallery presents works by the master engraver Shiko Munakata, who exhibited at the 1956 Venice Biennale, featuring classic ‘hanga’ prints on woodblocks, featuring figurative images on paper, including the ‘10 Disciples’ composition comprising ten panels priced at 650,000 dollars, an original view of Paris at 8,500 dollars, and a coloured print of a goddess priced at around 100,000 dollars. The story told by the London gallery Joost van den Bergh is quite different: it offers post-war Gutai works on paper by lesser-known artists priced at a few thousand pounds, up to the master Shiraga at 25,000 pounds.
We return to the classic Japanese decorative arts at the New York gallery Thomsen, featuring magnificent Japanese screens, ranging from an 18th-century piece with a gold background priced at $240,000 to a more recent work from the 1930s, rendered entirely in shades of white depicting a winter scene, priced at $120,000. Also on offer are various traditional woven baskets dating from the 1920s to the 2000s, with estimates ranging from $9,000 to $22,000.

The extensive range of classical paintings also includes works that are less well-known than those by the usual Italian and Flemish masters, or of unusual provenance, as in the case of the Belgian gallery Pelgrim de Bigard, which is seeking a buyer (perhaps a British museum or the Crown?) for a still life by Osias de Beert from the early 17th century, which once formed part of Charles I’s collection (asking price: 800,000 pounds). The Swedish gallery Amells Konsthandel is presenting a group of works by female Nordic artists from the early 20th century, with prices ranging from 55,000 to 250,000 euros, and four works by the Finnish artist Helene Schjerfbeck, already valued at 1 million pounds each. However, these remain well below the £5.5 million asking price for a classic interior by the Danish artist Hammershoi, or for a late 19th-century, almost abstract composition by August Strindberg.
Benappi of Turin is also presenting a huge figurative painting from 1914 by the Swedish artist Eugene Jansson, depicting three male nudes in a gymnasium, which has reportedly been purchased by a museum. Special mention must be made of the truly unique offering from David Crouch, a specialist in antique prints, who is presenting an entire collection of over 10,000 prints, mainly from the 18th and 19th centuries, the Andrew Edmunds Collection, featuring amusing examples of political satire, particularly from the Napoleonic period, offered at the admittedly rather modest price of 12 million pounds.