A visit to Austin / Desmond Fine Art

Austin / Desmond Fine Art faces a courtyard behind Great Russell Street, where also a well-stocked bookshop, a café with tables outside and an old camera shop remind me of a typical Italian square settlement. When we approach the gallery it is clear that the level of the artworks are out of our purchasing power. But we are here also to research and question about the commitment of the gallery with drawing.


Austin / Desmond Fine Art entrance in Pied Bull Yard.

The atmosphere is quite professional and the staff aloof. We visit the space and the works displayed, which turn out to be mostly paintings, particularly modern British painting. At the moment, on display we could see works by Josef Albers, Enrico Castellani, Piero Dorazio and others.
The gallery owns also works by Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975). In fact, we notice two of her drawing, that are delicate and bold at the same time. One drawing is dated 1941, the other one 1953. The prizes are also written on the caption: £60.000,00 the first, £80.000,00 the second.

Then we introduce the drawing project and ask if they have maybe more drawing in stock. The first answer is a question: "What is your budget?". Yes, our purchasing power doesn't correspond to their standards.

Mostly interested in paintings, the gallery offers also prints, but the expert on the matter is not in office today. Anyway, we say that it is drawings what we are really looking for. In the meanwhile, the phone starts to ring continually: it looks that are buyers asking information about artworks and prizes. We leave the gallery for another visit.




Leaving Austin /Desmond Fine Art.


Visit Austin /Desmond Fine Art:
http://www.austindesmond.com/

Michele Drascek