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Snobs and Upstarts in London's Fairs

June 3, 2009 by Marion Maneker

Colin Gleadell focuses on the ambitions and accommodations of London’s two leading antiques fairs:

This is a tale of two of Britain’s leading art and antiques fairs. The one (Grosvenor House) is older, grander and supported by royalty. It has snob appeal and is aimed more at the connoisseur collector. The other (Olympia International) was always bigger in size, but humbler in content – aimed more at the home decorator. For years the two fairs coexisted happily, even though they took place at the same time and in the same city. Each knew its place, and so did everyone who visited them. But then the humbler fair got big ideas. Why couldn’t it be grand, too? So this year, as both undergo changes in their different ways, there is a new sense of rivalry behind the scenes.

Grosvenor House and Olympia: Rival Art Fairs (Telegraph)

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Filed Under: Art Fairs

About Marion Maneker

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