Art

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If there were an art gallery version of ‘Monopoly’, it’s not Mayfair or Shoreditch you’d want to be placing your little plastic galleries on right now, but Fitzrovia. The East End maintains its edge and Mayfair its footing in the secondary market, but galleries who have been round the board a few times realise that the area north of Oxford Street and South of Euston Road is the place to land on. In estate agent-speak not only does Fitzrovia boast a prime location near to shops, hotels and restaurants (handy for international collectors in town), but it retains a community feel and has good-sized spaces (once rag-trade showrooms), all at prices far lower than Cork Street or Piccadilly. It’s also within walking distance of Regent’s Park and the Frieze Art Fair, around which London’s art scene increasingly revolves. Feature continues

Oil by Zebedee Jones at Mummery+Schnelle

Among those now proud to be Fitzrovians (it’s not Noho or Midtown, as some property developers are attempting to rebrand it) are Stuart Shave and Jake Miller, both recent migrants after ten years of building up successful galleries in the east. Shave’s impressive new Modern Art (D on map) gallery opened two weeks ago on Eastcastle Street with an already sold-out show by painter Nigel Cooke. Miller launched the Approach W1 (C) on Mortimer Street last November. Alison Jacques (E) also made a switch last year, but from Mayfair, opening her Berners Street gallery in May. All were attracted by the central, but almost off-the-beaten-track feel. Another former East Ender, Andrew Mummery, also flew west last year, launching his new partnership Mummery + Schnelle (B) on Great Titchfield Street. Both Mummery and Jacques have seen significant sales increases since moving.

All this relocation doesn’t mean that the East End art scene is on the way out. As galleries expand and move elsewhere, younger ones quite literally take their place. Monika Bobinska moved into Wilkinson’s former Cambridge Heath Road gallery, and Nettie Horn opened up in what used to be Vilma Gold on Vyner Street. Wilkinson and Vilma Gold both upgraded to bigger spaces but in the same neghbourhood. Like White Cube, Jake Miller has kept a foot in both camps by keeping the Approach E2 alongside the new Approach W1. Maybe even Stuart Shave isn’t totally giving up on the East End. Despite all the thriving restaurants, bars and hotels in Fitzrovia he still chose to have his launch party a cab-ride away at the artworld’s favoured hangout, St John’s in Clerkenwell.

Biro work by Erica Eyres at Rokeby

Other galleries that have moved to or opened up in the area over the past few years include Rokeby (H), Rollo (J), Laure Genillard (F) and collector David Roberts (A). More are waiting in the wings – Pilar Corrias is launching her first gallery on Great Portland Street and Museum 52 is currently in negotiations on a property in the area.

Given Fitzrovia’s historical art connections, though, perhaps none of this should be surprising. The Slade School of Art sits on its borders and there’s a long list of famous artists who’ve lived, worked and drunk in the area (the Fitzroy Tavern seeing much of this action) including Constable, Millais, Rosetti, Whistler, Sickert and the Bloomsbury Group, whose leader Roger Fry set up the Omega Workshop at 33 Fitzroy Square in 1911. Rebecca Hossack (G), a few doors down from that building in her gallery on Conway Street, is the first to acknowledge that she’s not part of London’s in-crowd (Aussie expat Hossack is an authority on Aboriginal art), but she’s probably the best person for new galleries on the block to get to know. Not only has she lived and run a gallery here for 20 years, she’s also a trained lawyer and a local councillor – the birch trees along her street were paid for by sponsorship she recieved for running the marathon.

So it’s all looking rosy in Fitzrovia then – well, not entirely. Freelance curator Alexandre Pollazzon (I) opened his first gallery on Howland Street two years ago but was forced to close last month due to financial difficulties. This isn’t unusual, indeed most young galleries don’t expect to see profit for their first few years (and Pollazzon says he’ll be back open this week), but it’s still a cautionary tale. In these evermore testing, credit-crunched times any West End gallery could inadvertently land on ‘Go to Jail’ and be left hoping for a lucky roll of the dice.