Georgina Adam reports on the evolution of the Pavilion of Art and Design, the fair held in a small tent in Berkeley Square in the heart of Mayfair that is limited to 50 galleries, as it has morphed into a big-ticket alternative to Frieze:

They spotted a gap in the market during the autumn London season, and filled it with the modern art and design that no other event caters for. “PAD is calm, elegant and attracts a different public than Frieze,” says exhibitor Peter Osborne of Osborne Samuel. Others don’t hesitate to describe the fair as “grown up” in comparison with what Tim Jeffries of Hamilton Gallery calls the “grazing herds” that flock to the Regent’s Park event. Ben Brown, participating for the second time, says the size and location of the fair are ideal. “My clients love it,” he says. “It’s in the centre of town; they can walk to it, and get around it in an hour. And all the contemporary collectors attending Frieze come to PAD as well.” […] Some major names are joining the fair this year, among them Gmurzynska from Zurich, Thomas Gibson and Simon Dickinson from London, the latter bringing Fernand Léger’s “Nature Morte” (1938). […] Espace Nelombos is trying to make a big splash at the fair. The gallery opened in 2009 and is now exhibiting for the second time; it is filling its booth – vigilantly watched by a security guard – with 15 works by Picasso. Ten are 1960s and 1970s oils, predominantly male portraits from his Mousquetaire series (including “Buste d’Homme”, 1969); the rest are works on paper. The show is a collaboration between Jean-Marc Peretti, owner of the Geneva-based gallery, and another dealer, the Paris-based Olivier Thomas. They say all the works on offer come from private collections, except for the 1956 drawing “La Colombe”, which was bought on the internet. Prices range from $200,000 for the drawings to $6m for the paintings, with most of the oils at the upper end.

PAD’s Chic Fair (Financial Times)