David Simon

b500 magazine

DAVID SIMON The Art Market

David Simon specialises in Contemporary and Modern British artists. He established the gallery in Somerset in 2006, after managing a gallery in Mayfair. The gallery, in Castle Cary, has a programme of monthly curated exhibitions, highlighting both emerging and established artists including paintings, ceramics and bronze sculpture.

In a year of recovery, the art world has successfully kicked back with strength. With many art fairs cancelled and visitor numbers heavily diminished, online activity has been extraordinarily busy. International art fairs and private galleries have been re-opening and it is great to see some amazing public exhibitions launching this year and in 2022. Phillips Auctioneers set seven new records in the 20th Century and Contemporary Art sale this month with energetic international bidding. During the previous decade public museums, galleries and arts projects had suffered radical streamlining of public funding, so in these straightened times it is refreshingly surprising that last week Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced an £850m injection into Britain’s culture sector. The last two years have shown a significant realisation of how vital the visual arts are to individuals. £300m is earmarked for the refurbishment of public galleries.

Pallant House, Chichester is an important museum gallery with an enviable collection by Modern British and St Ives artists. Their next show, “Hockney to Himid: 60 Years of British Printmaking” runs Saturday 13 November – Sunday 24 April. From early etchings by David Hockney to Lubaina Himid’s poetic lithographs, the exhibition will plot the remarkable changes in British printmaking from the post war period to the present day.

It has been interesting to see the rise in popularity of works of art on paper over the past ten years. As an extremely accessible way of acquiring artworks by world famous artists, this area has become increasingly popular and a commodity that promises to continue to be a wise and lucrative investment. This year David Simon Contemporary held two major

Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) Marseilles Harbour, 1925 lithograph on BFK Rives wove paper edition of 33 33 x 42.2cm (plate), 50.5 x 55.5cm (paper) exhibitions of Twentieth Century works – “Picasso & Sylvette” in May was a selling exhibition of works on paper by Pablo Picasso alongside a range of paintings by Lydia Corbett (AKA Sylvette), with some thirty works by Picasso from the 1920s to the 1970s. Corbett is one of the last surviving models of Picasso, known as ‘The Girl with the Ponytail’ and is a successful artist in her own right. October saw ‘School of Paris’, an exhibition with original, signed works on paper by Georges Braque, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Raoul Dufy, Réne Magritte, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró and Pablo Picasso. The Twentieth Century was, of course, an extraordinary time for Europe, with two World Wars and the Spanish Civil War. A number of Catalonian artists including Salvador Dali and Joan Miró fled to Paris. This was a time where artists sought both

Patrick Heron (1920-1999) January 1973, Plate 5, 1973 screenprint, Artist’s Proof, edition of 72 68 x 92.3 (paper), 58.6 x 81.4cm (plate)

political and personal freedom. Here, a number of major art movements were born - Fauvism, Cubism and Surrealism and these artists, who became some of the biggest names in the Western Art World, shared their ideas. Our exhibition represented the main exponents of these movements and with a ‘Surrealism Beyond Borders’ exhibition opening at The Met, New York, running from October 2021 to January 2022, this period of art is very topical.

2022 promises to bring an exciting visual feast from a ground-breaking survey of Surrealism at Tate Modern, a new installation by Hew Locke at Tate Britain, a homecoming exhibition of Barbara Hepworth at Tate St Ives, and the return of the Turner Prize to Tate Liverpool. The Venice Biennale reappears next spring from April through to November with a much anticipated programme curated by Cecilia Alemani, the first Italian woman to hold the position. Here in Somerset, we are delighted to announce that our major exhibition for 2022 is “American Pop Art” throughout May. This energetic show features an incredible collection of original works by Roy Lichtenstein (1923 – 1997); Robert Rauschenberg (1925 – 2008); and Andy Warhol (1928 – 1987). These leading figures in American Pop Art will be accompanied by a series of signed, original prints by David Hockney RA, who spent several decades living in Los Angeles and was undoubtedly inspired by this uniquely colourful art scene.

Whilst the last two years have been one of the toughest and most volatile periods of international business in history across most sectors, those galleries both private and public who have made it through, now have a renewed confidence and enthusiasm. Expect a happy and prosperous new year ahead, with a healthy programme packed full of ambitious and exciting blockbuster shows.

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Portrait of Françoise Gilot, 1947 original lithograph on Arches wove paper signed in pencil 56 x 38cm

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