Art Galleries and Auction Houses in the UK Will Be Allowed to Reopen at Limited Capacities Starting Next Month

Galleries and auction houses in
the UK will likely be able to reopen starting June 1 as part of the
second phase of British Prime Minster Boris Johnson’s plan to ease
lockdown restrictions, according to a group of art trade
associations. 

Johnson’s plan, which was
announced this weekend and shared in a full 60-page dossier Monday,
does not specifically address small and midsize art organizations.
But The Art
Newspaper reports that the Society for London Art
Dealers, the British Art Market Federation, and LAPADA, among other
art trade associations, have received confirmation from the UK’s
department for digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) that
galleries and auction houses will be considered “non-essential
retail” and allowed to re-engage in some form of client-facing
business starting next month. 

This means that dealers and
auction-house staff will be able to liaise with customers on
private property, so long as appropriate social distancing measures
are maintained. Museums and other large venues, however, will be
part of the third phase, and not allowed to reopen before July 4,
per TAN.

“The art market is a significant
contributor to the UK economy and I am pleased that this has been
recognized by the UK government with galleries and auction houses
being included in phase 2 of easing the lockdown,” Freya Simms, the
chief executive of LAPADA, a London-based association of art and
antique dealers, told Artnet News. “This is a very welcome and
important step and will help ease the much needed road to recovery
in a market that has been on pause.”

Simms, along with the leaders of
other trade associations, has been lobbying for galleries to be
among the first businesses allowed to reopen.

However, she says, the industry
still has a long way to go before
recovery. “It is
critical that we keep the dialogue open and assess when art and
antiques fairs may look to safely reopen as these provide at least
50 percent of most gallery’s annual turnover,” she
noted. 

Exact rules for resuming
business have not been announced, though the UK government did
publish a set of general guidelines for “working safely during
coronavirus” this week. It is likely that wearing masks inside
galleries will become the new normal.

“Our prime objective is to get
the wheels of commerce turning as quickly as possible,” BAMF
chairman Anthony Browne told TAN.
“If art businesses had the same strict social distancing
requirements imposed upon them as we’re seeing with the essential
businesses such as supermarkets, then the market could adopt them
and get going much more quickly, even if they are
onerous.”

Auction houses are unlikely to
host crowded sales for some time, but the lifting of restrictions
next month will allow some employees who were unable to work from
home—photographers, cataloguers, conservators—to resume activity.
(Looking ahead, the UK may take a cue from France, which last week
permitted auctions to resume with a maximum of 10
attendees.)

Meanwhile, Simms notes,
galleries and other individual businesses may adopt tactics
to make their spaces
safer upon reopening, including adding screens, hand-sanitizing
stations, and door buzzers to front-of-house areas; ensuring
back-of-house works have the proper PPE; and only conducting
business by appointment.

“In turn,” Simms said,
“customers will be able see the works of art in person. That can
make all the difference to a sale!”

The post Art Galleries and Auction Houses in the UK Will Be
Allowed to Reopen at Limited Capacities Starting Next Month
appeared first on artnet News.