The British collector and dealer Charles Saatchi has been buying and selling art for more than 30 years, and now his Chelsea gallery is launching a commercial space called Salon. The new venue, situated inside Saatchi Gallery’s headquarters off the Kings Road, will host selling exhibitions organised in collaboration with blue-chip galleries and artists’ estates.
Lévy-Gorvy gallery is inaugurating the space with an exhibition of works from the 1950s and 1960s by the Japanese Gutai artist Tsuyoshi Maekawa (24 February-14 May). Works are priced between $75,000 and $400,000, although not all are for sale; some pieces have been loaned by the Antwerp gallery, Axel Vervoordt. Saatchi will take an undisclosed percentage of all sales.
Philippa Adams, a senior director at Saatchi Gallery who is heading up Salon, says the new venture will allow the gallery to present works outside of its very contemporary remit, as well as show major artists who are little-known in the UK, “but whose work we feel should be seen by a much wider audience”.
Saatchi Gallery has held 15 of the 20 most-visited shows in London over the past five years, according to The Art Newspaper’s attendance figures. “Those sorts of numbers appeal to commercial galleries,” Adams says. “The general public do not largely speaking visit commercial galleries; this platform allows the public access to these works.”
In 2010, talks broke down between Saatchi and the Arts Council England over plans to donate more than 200 works from his collection, valued at around £25m, to the nation. The gift would have turned Saatchi Gallery into the Museum of Contemporary Art, London. Problems reportedly arose over the issue of the new institution being part-funded by the buying and selling of works, which goes against the code of ethics of the Museums Association. However, Maurice Davies, the association’s then head of policy and communication, told the Financial Times it had not been contacted over the issue.
Of the new gallery Adams says there is “no problem whatsoever” with linking with leading commercial galleries. “It makes good sense for them to attract new collectors for the artists selected.” She adds: “Blending the public with the private is now omnipresent, this new initiative is reflective of museums adapting to present wider presentations to the public.”
As with Saatchi Gallery, entrance to Salon will be free. In a bid to keep complimentary admission and to raise funds for its education programme Saatchi is selling off 100 pieces from his collection. Works by contemporary artists including Anthea Hamilton, Laure Prouvost and Jon Rafman will go under the hammer in two sales at Christie’s in London and New York in March. Estimates range from £1,000 to £35,000.