Dispelling the Myth about Works on Paper
A panel discussion moderated by Apollo editor Dr Thomas Marks with Jane McAusland (paper conservator), Matthew Travers (Piano Nobile), Liberte Nuti (Härb Nuti Master Drawings) and Thomas Edwards (Abbott & Holder) will aim to get away from the general belief that Works on Paper are too fragile to be on display all the time. The talk will start with an overview of the last 150 years in this field and then address how to look after the works in the best way, taking into account some of the more recent technology. Finally, the panel will discuss how drawings, sketches, watercolours, prints, pastels and collages can be a great way for new buyers to start their collection.
Thomas Marks is the editor and publisher of Apollo. Founded in 1925, Apollo is one of the world's most prestigious art magazines. Since becoming editor in 2013, Thomas has relaunched the Apollo website (www.apollo-magazine.com) as a forum for daily art news and established the forward-looking Apollo 40 Under 40, a publication celebrating talented young people in the art world. He regularly interviews artists for the magazine, and has written many essays about museums and their collections - including the Uffizi and the Prado.
Thomas holds an MSt in Romantic and Victorian literature and a DPhil on Victorian poetry and architecture from Magdalen College, Oxford. He has written on art and literature for a wide range of publications, including The Telegraph, the Times Literary Supplement, Literary Review, and the New Statesman.
Jane McAusland was an apprentice to Mordo Barnard of Craddock & Barnard the Old Master Print dealers, in Museum Street, London, in the late 1950s & 60s. In 1970 she set up her own workshop in Chelsea shortly moving to larger premises in Battersea for the Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art on Paper. She had advice on watercolours from Michael Warnes at the British Museum and later the Royal Library where she worked with him in the 1970's for a couple of years. In 1980 Jane moved to her Suffolk studio, which is still used by her and assistants. Over the years many works of art, great and small on paper have passed through her hands for conservation and restoration, working for private collectors, museums and public institutions, dealers and the auction houses. She has taught, published and lectured and still practices.
Matthew Travers is Director of Piano Nobile Gallery, established by Dr Robert Travers in 1985. The gallery has been based in Holland Park for twenty years and is today run by father and son, Robert and Matthew Travers. In 2019, Piano Nobile opened a further space on Portland Road to support the gallery's growing exhibition programme. The gallery plays an active role in the market for twentieth-century British and international art. With curatorial flair, a refined aesthetic and rigorous scholarship, we seek to source and present exceptional works of art. Whether our clients are buying or selling, we place the utmost importance on discretion, tailoring to the specific needs of each individual.
Liberté Nuti has recently joined forces with Florian Härb, specialising in works on paper from the sixteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Liberté has spent over two decades in the Christie's Impressionist and Modern department, where she was International Director and Head of Private Sales, London, and two years at the contemporary art gallery Hauser & Wirth in London, where she was Senior Director for Impressionist and Modern Art.
Tom Edwards joined Abbott & Holder, dealers in British pictures since 1936, in 2003 having read History of Art at the Courtauld Institute. He became a Director in 2012 and on Philip's retirement in 2021 became owner and Managing Director of the gallery based in Bloomsbury, London.
William Scott Linear Still Life Suite VI, Courtesy of Piano Nobile 
Albert Rutherston (1881 - 1953) Cuthbert Hamilton (1885 - 1959), Courtesy of Abbot & Holder 
Antonio d'Enrico, called Tanzio da Varallo (1575/80-c. 1635) A Drapery Study (verso: Study of a Woman, her Hands folded in Prayer), Courtesy of Harb Nuti Master Drawings 
Alexander Calder Untitled 1932, Courtesy of Piano Nobile 
Frederick, Lord Leighton P.R.A. (1830 - 1896) Studies for 'Romola': 'The Visible Madonna' and 'A Dangerous Colleague'. 1862
Courtesy of Abbot & Holder
