Humans as God’s Artwork
“History, literature, philosophy, theology, music and art are all rational disciplines.”
Quotes by Professor John Lennox, Oxford mathematician and Christian apologist, 2026. It’s the height of the Season in London, four days after 21 June. The Great Gatsby’s Daisy Buchanan would never have missed the longest day of the year if she had noted Treasure House Fair in her diary. Firmdale Hotels are this edition’s hospitality partner.
Preview canapés to enjoy are broad bean and mint tartlets; bruschetta with ricotta and marinated peppers; compressed pineapple, feta and Aleppo chilli; and smoked salmon blinis, cream cheese, lemon and dill. Bowls are poached chalk stream trout with shaved fennel, pickled cucumber salad and tartare or crispy potato terrine, marinated peppers and salsa verde – or both. And gallons of Pommery Brut Royal fuel.
An exploration of six of the best pieces illustrates the explosion of breadth and depth of Treasure House Fair London 2026. Post Impressionist Symbolism. French Provincialism. Post Pop Fusion. British Abstract Art. Abstract Expressionist Photorealism. Neo Expressionism. They’re all on display and for sale. Such magnitude of talent from beings a little lower than the angels. Deep calls to deep. Are you ready? Are you ready? Here goes!
Henri Martin (1860 to 1943) was born in Toulouse to a French cabinetmaker and mother of Italian descent. At age 17 he entered the Toulouse School of the Fine Arts where he was tutored by Henry-Eugène Delacroix and Jules Garipuy. In 1879 Henri and his wife Marie-Charlotte Barbaroux relocated to Paris. Four years later he won his first medal at the Paris Salon and continued to enjoy professional success. They would later move to the countryside near Cahors.
La Maison de Marie-Louise circa 1910 (Willow Gallery London) is Henri at his Post Impressionist finest. Poetry, tranquillity and a touch of melancholy ooze from this oil on canvas. Although strongly gestural, Henri’s brushwork is assured and deliberate. Through a pointillist application of varied hues, he delivers a nuanced surface overlaid with an atmospheric haze. Henri beautifully captures the intense fleeting late afternoon light of rural southern France.
Animals in art, pets in paintings. Victorian sentimentality clearly crossed the Channel. The late 19th century Portrait of Dick (Vagabond Gallery London) is a forever portrait of a pampered Barbet. Dick liked his luxuries judging by the velvet tasselled cushion he’s resting on. There’s a long tradition of beloved canines being immortalised: a 14th century dog cast in stone warms the cold feet of the 10th Countess of Arundel in Chichester Cathedral.
The exhibition earlier this year at Serpentine North Gallery London would be his last. He could draw, he could paint, he could do computer art – and he liked to smoke. Best remembered for his sexy sun saturated large scale Pop Art paintings of Los Angeles swimming pools, in contrast Vera Russell, 1979, (Christopher Kingzett London) is a personal pen on paper portrait. It’s a reflection of his close friendship with the sitter. Young Man Walks Past by Lavender’s Blue, 2026, computer drawing over photograph, is a tribute to the late great David Hockney (1937 to 2026). If this artwork isn’t a seventh brilliant piece it certainly is a sixth asterisk.
“You are more valuable that a star. You know it is there. It doesn’t know you are there.”
A member of the Scottish gentry, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912 to 2004) studied at the Edinburgh School of Art. In 1940 she moved to St Ives Cornwall where her oeuvre explored memory of the rugged landscapes of Scotland and presence of the cragged Cornish coast. European travels, especially a visit to the Swiss glaciers in 1948, inspired Wilhelmina to translate the natural world into dynamic geometric abstractions. BGT 2974, acrylic on paper, 2001 (Portland Gallery London), represents the artist reaching her abstract maturity.
Swiss artist Andy Denzler (born 1965) continues his exploration of identity oscillating between physical presence and digital echo. His latest works register a contemporary condition shaped by constant meditation: the self curated self obsessed self involved isolated afterimage. In Inner Space 3, 2026 (Opera Gallery London), the sitter and interior render distortion as experience and actuality. Andy reminds the viewer that oil painting, far from being a medium of the past, remains a vital tool for examining how we inhabit spaces and ourselves.
This edition’s Sculpture Walk features a series of enigmatic white sculptures. David Breuer-Well (born 1965) has worked with reinforced plaster and wood to create three dimensional shapes of unfathomable form such as Partners, 2026 (James Hyman Gallery London). Central St Martin’s School of Art alumnus David is not afraid of monumentalism, using scale to confront themes of displacement, existentialism and the human condition.
Prices – how rude to ask! – range from £14,500 for Portrait of Dick to £60,000 for Vera Russell to £220,000 for Marie-Louise’s maison. Treasure House Fair Preview? Priceless.
“The stars radiated the glory of it, the stars were not made in His image, you were! You are part of God’s artwork.”
