ANZCA Bulletin June 2012 - final.pdf - Australian and New Zealand ...

6. AuctionstationsForget Louis Vuitton and Isabel Marant – fora Parisian purchase to really cherish, head to thecity’s most famous auction house, Drouot. Furnituredesigner Nicolas Blandin knows the labyrinthine salons andidiosyncracies of this 9th arondissement landmark better thanmost and can advise visitors on the smartest buys, whether itis Second Empire objets d’art, Mapplethorpe photography orCongolese fetish art. Major sales – the contents of a chateau,for example – tend to be major social events and Blandin is anengaging interlocutor between outsiders and the inner circle.Serious buyers should set aside at least two days, one topreview the sales (there are 21 salons to sift through) andanother for the live auction. Blandin knows the city’s fleamarkets intimately too. His promise to prospective buyersis to explain the art market and flea markets to themand ensure they buy “at the right price andfeel comfortable”. Contact him at nicolas.blandin@yahoo.fr; nicolasblandindesign.blogspot.com.7. In with a showEven in the winter doldrums, London’s culturalcalendar never wanes. The English capital offerssomething for almost everyone in its winter exhibitions,which range from an exhibition of British ballgownsat the V&A Museum (until January 6, vam.ac.uk) to theScience Museum’s centenary show honouring Alan Turing,the computer pioneer and Enigma codebreaker (until June20, 2013, sciencemuseum.co.uk). Tate Britain is exhibitingmore than 150 works by the ever popular Pre-Raphaelites (untilJanuary 13) while Tate Modern looks at the brief, bizarre reignof the Vienna Actionists (until April 13, tate.org.uk). Over atthe National Gallery, Seduced by Art: Photography Past andPresent, explores the influence of Old Masters’ painting onphotography (until January 20, nationalgallery.org.uk).96 ANZCA Bulletin June 2012