Haunch of Venison

Haunch of Venison is a commercial art gallery founded in 2002 in the West End of London. It represents leading contemporary artists. In 2007 it was taken over by Christie's auction house. This caused shock in the art world, as there is traditionally a separation between the commercial activities of galleries and auction houses.

History

The Haunch of Venison gallery was founded by Harry Blain and Graham Southern, who had formerly run the London contemporary art department of Christie's auction house.Gleadell, Colin. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/02/27/basales27.xml "Christie's move stuns dealers"] , "Daily Telegraph", 27 February 2007. Retrieved 29 November 2007.] It opened in 2002 in Haunch of Venison Yard, off Bond Street in London, with an exhibition of Rachel Whiteread works bought by Blain from Charles Saatchi. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2002/09/30/bacg30.xml "Contemporary market: Harry Blain"] , "Daily Telegraph", 30 September 2002. Retrieved 29 November 2007.] The lease on the premises had been sold to Blain by Anthony d'Offay, when he closed his eponymous gallery.

The Haunch of Venison represents "hugely successful" artists such as Keith Tyson and Bill Viola; it represents two of the four nominees for the 2007 Turner Prize, Nathan Coley and Zarina Bhimji. [ [http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/exhibitions/turnerprize2007/artists.shtm#zarina "Turner Prize: The shortlisted artists"] , Tate online. Retrieved 29 November 2007.]

Other artists it lists include Dan Flavin, Bill Fontana, James Rosenquist, Mark Alexander, Uwe Wittwer, Wim Wenders, Zhang Huan, 2002 Turner Prize winner, Keith Tyson and previous Turner Prize nominees, Tony Cragg, Richard Long, Simon Patterson and Jane and Louise Wilson.

It has branches in London, Zurich and Berlin, [ [http://www.haunchofvenison.com/en/#page=home "Haunch of Venison"] , haunchofvenison.com. Retrieved 29 November 2007.] and New York, which is run by Barrett White, previously director of private sales at Christie's. There are plans for galleries in Shanghai and Beijing to stock both Chinese and western art for collectors in China, where, said Blain, there is a "real thirst" for contemporary western art. [Higgins, Charlotte. [http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1551256,00.html "Chinese buyers fuel auction house boom"] , "The Guardian", 18 August 2005. Retrieved 29 November 2007.]

Its turnover in 2006 was £50 million.

Takeover by Christie's

In February 2007 it was announced that Christie's auction house had bought Haunch of Venison. This caused "shock and disbelief" in the art world, as it violated the protocol that separated gallery activity of selling new work (the primary market) from auction house activity of offering work that had previously been bought (the secondary market). Some of the dealers critical of the takeover refused to be quoted for fear of offending Christie's owner, François Pinault, one of the world's largest contemporary art collectors. The Lisson Gallery's owner, Nicholas Logsdail, said, "Is this about business or is it about art? Artists need freedom of spirit." Blain stated that the gallery would maintain its independence of operation and that the extra financing would allow it to increase its activities for the benefit of artists and clients.

To avoid any conflict of interest, the gallery will not be allowed to bid at Christie's auctions. It will, however, facilitate private sales from the auction house, whose turnover in this sector in 2006 amounted to £137 million, including Gustav Klimt's portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, which sold for £70 million to the New York Neue Galerie. Blain has developed a reputation for secondary market sales by artists including Francis Bacon, Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst. Several of the latter's early works were sold by Blain to Pinault, after Hirst had bought them back from Charles Saatchi.

The negative reaction of other dealers to the takeover was shown when Haunch of Venison was excluded from the prestigiousGleadell, Colin. [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/04/24/bamarket124.xml "Market news"] , "Daily Telegraph", 24 April 2007. Retrieved 29 November 2007.] Frieze Art Fair in 2007.

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.haunchofvenison.com Haunch of Venison official site]