A new London art fair, which will launch in the spring of 2013, has secured the impeccable services of Charles Saumarez Smith, otherwise known as the chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts.
Mr Saumarez Smith will join other cultural heavyweights on the advisory board for Art13 London, the capital city’s newest contemporary art fair that is aiming for a truly global reach.
Created by Tim Etchells and Sandy Angus, founders of ArtHK, the expo will play host to 120 modern and contemporary galleries from all around the world. This includes Singapore’s Chan Hampe Gallery; Seoul’s Gallery Em; London’s Gallery8; Cologne’s Galerie Martin Kudlek; and Dubai’s Lawrie Shabibi.
Also sitting on the board, which is being chaired by Philip Dodd, is Sunhee Kim, Thomas Shao, Li Bing, Dominique and Sylvain Levy and Sydney Picasso.
“I’m delighted to join the advisory board,” said Mr Saumarez Smith.
“I’m impressed with the fair’s commitment to bring art from Asia, the Middle East and Africa to London, reflecting the city’s burgeoning importance within the art world. Such global ambition is also important to the Royal Academy of Arts.”
His knowledge and experience of the art world will be vital in helping shape Art13 London, which is being directed by the equally erudite Stephanie Dieckvoss (manager of the Frieze art fair during its first three years).
Mr Saumarez Smith’s appointment has come on the back of the publication of his new book The Company of Artists: The Origins of the Royal Academy of Artsin London.
Describing the book, The Spectator’s Kate Chisholm said: “He turns a dry-as-dust subject, the creation of a bureaucratic organisation, into a lively and good-humoured study of how to get things done amid the machinations of committee politics and delicate creative temperaments”.
Whether it is transporting a single painting or an entire collection, Cadogan Tate is an expert in shipping fine art.