The revised and updated version of Lesley Jackson's
Robin & Lucienne Day: Pioneers of Contemporary Design and
A Symbol for the Festival: Abram Games and the Festival of Britain by Naomi Games are just a taste of the collection of design publications released in 2011.
Both books celebrate British design at its best and coincide with the 60th Anniversary of the Festival of Britain and the current revival of interest in post-war art and design.
For those interested in post-war British painting, the long awaited and first ever full-scale monograph on John Craxton, written by Ian Collins will be welcomed. Illustrated throughout in colour, this book brings to life his paintings from the early neo-romantic pastoral pieces to the vibrant paintings inspired by Crete. The book examines Craxton's important role in post-war British art and covers his early relationship with Lucian Freud. It also looks at his wonderful work for ballet and book designs.
Later in the year, Pallant House Gallery will be holding the first major retrospective of the work of Edward Burra since 1985. The large collection of his paintings on show will be accompanied by a major publication written by Simon Martin and will bring to light previously unpublished paintings.
Art investment is a risky business. Even "insiders" such as auction houses, art dealers and experienced collectors make mistakes and sometimes lose money on what they consider to be 'investment grade' art. On the other hand, returns can be very high, making art investment a potentially high return, but risky enterprise.
The centre of the art investment market tends to cluster around financial centres such as New York and London and a lot of interest tends to be focused on art that meets the 'Goldilocks' principle of being in the middle: not too old that it is considered an antiquity, which often raises issues of heritage, ownership and fakery and not so contemporary that it hasn't appeared at a major auction house.
In this middle ground, there are a number of factors that can help to reduce risk. Artists that have stopped producing (bluntly artists that are dead) are often less risky than those that are alive for the simple reason that the supply of art is well-defined (although not perfectly so because of the possibility of new works coming to light and of forgeries). Researching the track record at auction and establishing provenance including things like history of exhibition and proof of ownership by an expert and establishing marketability (and hence liquidity), all help to reduce risk.
However, being in the middle also means that there is a lot of demand, and hence prices can already be high which reduces the potential for future returns. Given this, a number of galleries have another approach to investment art, which is to target the less well-trodden area of established and emerging contemporary artists who haven't yet established a track record at major auction houses. As with the middle ground of art investment, there is risk, but there are steps that can be taken to help reduce these risks. Different art galleries have different approaches, and whilst none are unique, there are methods that you can learn from and use yourself as part of your own due diligence process.
Alexander Millar, Alexander Millar Art @ Artmarket,
Alexander Millar, Alexander Millar Art @ Artmarket,
Alexander Millar, Alexander Millar Art @ Artmarket 
