MCH Group, the parent company of Art Basel, has announced that it is canceling this year’s iteration of the Masterpiece art fair, which has been staged annually in London since 2010. The event, which focuses on art and antiques, had been scheduled to take place June 28 through July 5 at its usual venue of the Royal Hospital in Chelsea. Speaking with The Art Newspaper, an MCH spokesperson cited “escalating costs and a decline in the number of international exhibitors” as spurring the cancelation.
The long-term fate of the fair is unclear at present. MCH Group purchased a controlling 67.5 percent stake in the event in 2017. At that time, its founders were considering expanding the fair—which lures high-net-worth buyers with offerings including old masters, jewelry, and cars—to other international locations, with Asia reported to be first in line. This did not come to pass. After the global Covid-19 crisis put paid to the 2020 and 2021 iterations of the London event, it returned this past summer, albeit in a straitened form, with the number of participating galleries dropping to 129, down from 150 in 2019. MCH Group in August 2022 bought the fair outright.
Masterpiece CEO Lucie Kitchener painted a bleak landscape around the fair, telling TAN that Brexit had played a significant part in the drop-off among participants, with European galleries reluctant to become entangled in the red tape required to apply to the fair, and shipping costs having skyrocketed. “No future editions of Masterpiece in its current format are planned,” she said. “MCH Group is working with the Masterpiece team to consider future brand developments.”