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CAU > Seminars and Study Tours > The World of Art in London

The World of Art in London

May 13-21, 2006

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To anyone who loves (or collects, or deals in) art, London is unique. Its constellation of great museums is unsurpassed anywhere. It is the center of the world's art market—above all, for European and Asian art—with literally hundreds of established dealers in paintings, prints, silver, furniture, maps, and much else; here, we can spend $100 or $1,000,000 more profitably and with greater choice than in any other city. And, finally, London is unique in itself and in its environs as a center for stately homes, those Elizabethan, Georgian, and Victorian mansions that housed all that art to begin with.

Simply put, in London we can discover and enjoy the full sequence of the art world, the places for which great works of art were made, the galleries and auction houses that still sell them, and the museums that display the very best of them all. Our leaders for this foray into art and the art world, Nancy E. Green, senior curator of prints, drawings, and photographs at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell, and Franklin W. Robinson, the Richard J. Schwartz Director of the Johnson Museum, are absolute Pied Pipers in leading CAUers to and through great collections, museums, galleries, homes, and auction houses. With Frank's and Nancy's knowledge, enthusiasm, and contacts in London, our week will be busy, stimulating, enlightening, and great fun (we'll even set aside some free time for you to shop, prowl, or take in a play as you like).

Our specially arranged visits will include a fine sampling of London's art treasuries and art-world haunts. We'll visit the Royal Academy of Arts, the Hayward Gallery, the Saatchi Gallery, or the Tate Modern, whichever has the current "big" show in May. We'll spend time with the classical tradition at the British Museum, the National Gallery, and the V&A (Victoria and Albert). We'll visit several of the smaller, but great, arts collections, including Sir John Soane's Museum or the Wallace Collection. We'll devote several mornings to visits with selected Duke and Bond street dealers (The Fine Art Society, Maas Gallery, Agnew's, or Chris Beetle's) and major auction houses (Christie's and/or Sotheby's—whichever Nancy's and Frank's contacts decide might have more appealing items, collections, and sales that week for us to discuss). We think you'll also enjoy our very fine hotel, the Westbury Mayfair, which is nicely located, close to just about everything.

We'll visit several of the great homes in and near London—including Charleston, the home of artists Duncan Grant and Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf's sister), with its fine collection of Bloomsbury paintings and furniture, and Firle Place, home of a major collection of Chippendale furniture and old master paintings, including Anthony van Dyck. We'll also make a special trip to Cambridge, where we'll visit the great Fitzwilliam Museum, renowned for its superb collections from antiquity to the present, Queens' College's Morris Room, and King's College Chapel, one of the masterpieces of English Gothic architecture.

The program fee of $4,480 (per-person, double-occupancy) includes all lodging and breakfasts, welcome and closing receptions and dinners, several luncheons, all ground transportation, site visits, admission fees, escort services, taxes, gratuities, preparatory materials, and the full educational program. The supplement for single occupancy is $1,335. (Please subtract $200 per person from the program fee if you also take part in the CAU London theatre seminar—see the description on the previous page—with Glenn Altschuler and David Feldshuh.) This is not a physically strenuous program, but you must be able to stay on your feet for an hour or more and climb the inevitable staircases in London homes and galleries that do not have elevators. No special background or expertise in art is needed (Frank and Nancy are equally at home inspiring novices and in talking about the art market with old art hands). We hope you'll join them.