Women artists take the limelight at Frieze Masters 2018

Reappraisal isn’t just about women. In Spotlight, ‘There’s almost gender parity,’ notes Clements-Gillespie. But the artist who tips the balance in favour of the men also blurs the boundaries, namely the French erotic, surreal photographer Pierre Molinier. His photographs and montages are often cross-dressing self-portraits, which come to the fair through Paris-based Christophe Gaillard and Galerie 1900–2000 (up to €65,000).

Boundaries are blurred in other ways at this year’s Frieze Masters. At Hauser & Wirth, the intersection of art and literature is explored in a three-part presentation based on the taste of the English poet Stephen Spender (1909–95) and his circle. Spender – who lived a double life as a family man and a homosexual – mixed with artists including Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Henry Moore and David Hockney, and was Frank Auerbach’s first collector, according to an accompanying book that the gallery published ahead of the fair. The booth includes works that Spender owned, some of which still belong to the family and so are not for sale, as well as portraits of him such as a 1934 drawing by Moore (price on application) and a 1940 oil by Freud (not for sale). ‘There’s no art fair closer to Spender’s north-west London world than Frieze Masters,’ notes Neil Wenman, senior director at Hauser & Wirth.

Portrait of Stephen Spender (1934), Henry Moore. Hauser & Wirth (price on application). Photo: Dominic Brown Photography; © courtesy the Henry Moore Foundation and Hauser & Wirth; © The Henry Moore Foundation. All Rights reserved, DACS/www.henry-moore.org 2018

Galleria Continua looks at where art meets music through a booth of works from the late 1980s onwards by the Russian artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, London favourites since their first major UK museum show ran at Tate Modern until the beginning of this year. Continua’s stand has a Tate-like installation in the middle that Emilia, who trained as a classical musician, describes as ‘an empty museum’ ($500,000). Visitors listen to Bach through headphones and look at a blank, spotlit wall. ‘They’ll need to use their imagination,’ Emilia says.

Frieze Masters’ historic and revisionist focus draws some of the youngest minds. This year, artist Adam Pendleton (b. 1984) pulls together a booth of systematic artists including Sol LeWitt, Robert Ryman and Lee Ufan for Pace Gallery (which has a coinciding Pendleton show in its London space during Frieze). ‘These are artists you normally see at a fair, but not necessarily examined and framed in this way,’ Pendleton says.

Despite the dominance of the 20th century, Frieze has attracted new and returning specialists of older art to its Masters fair. These include Francesca Galloway, who returns to offer a fine group of about 50 Pahari works, mostly paintings, from the late 16th to the early 19th century, from the collection of Ludwig Habighorst (£10,000–£400,000). There are some unusual subjects among them, including Gods and mortals enjoying bhang, a form of edible cannabis.

Holy family preparing bhang (1790), India, Guler. Francesca Galloway (up to £400,000)

Older Asian art also comes through fair newcomer Gisèle Croës whose wares range from scholar’s rocks and Han dynasty hairpins to an inscribed bronze gu from the late Shang dynasty (c. 1300–1046 BC), once in the prized collection of the second Lord Cunliffe (around $1m). Frieze’s old-timers bring out the big guns, too: coinciding with the UK’s first exhibition dedicated to Jusepe de Ribera at Dulwich Picture Gallery, Colnaghi offers the Spanish artist’s unforgiving Aesop (c. 1630; around €500,000). ‘It’s rewarding that such stand-out dealers want to boost their presence at Frieze Masters,’ Clements-Gillespie says, adding, ‘I’m personally very excited about this year’s fair.’

Frieze Masters takes place in Regent’s Park, London, from 4–7 October. 

From the October 2018 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here.