Patricia Kerr and The Affordable Fine Art Company
I have been buying paintings and other art work all of my life. I have worked in a leading West End Gallery and loved the whole business: learning how to recognise a truly ‘good’ painting (this is often more intuition than intellect), how to bid at auction and how to care for and, sell on, paintings.
I am not sure how it happened – but I was persuaded away from the glamorous world of high end, fine art to join the equally exciting, but less glamorous field of Executive Search – helping source senior professional staff for the UK’s leading investment houses and landed estates. I loved this too! Now, I got the opportunity to see inside the most gorgeous offices, prestigious and stately homes and even the odd yacht or two. Always, I was drawn to the beautiful pictures people chose to surround themselves with – whether it was a portrait of the great and the good for their grand office or historic land or seascapes or exquisite paintings of flowers, children or animals to grace the walls of a stunning country house.
I could not afford most of the pictures that I admired in such places. My appetite was great – but my budget was tiny. For me though, a home is not a home without paintings on the wall and endless books on sturdy old shelves. The pictures need to be original, beautifully painted , inspiring and interesting. Over the years, I have bought and sold many homes of my own and gradually discovered that I could buy wonderful original paintings, at very reasonable prices, if I was resourceful, energetic and persistent! This meant attending auctions and house sales all over the country, befriending good dealers and endlessly scanning the internet to find them.
By the time I decided to retire from my own Executive Search business in 2012, I was buying and selling pictures, not just for myself, but for friends and family also. The natural progression of this, now I have more time, is to sell outside of my personal circle to people, who appreciate fine period art. I am passionate about early 20th century art. It is such a fascinating period – think Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell, all the surrealists, Picasso ….. The list is endless – but what a list! Like most people I cant afford works by these iconic artists – and I am not even sure I would want to bear the responsibility of hanging their works in my home – or the insurance costs!! What I do want though is to surround myself with paintings and other art objects by lesser known artists, whose works can sell for a pittance, but which have the power and beauty to deliver the decorative excitement of that wonderfully imaginative era.
Every painting and art object I choose for The Affordable Fine Art Company web site has been sourced, inspected and purchased by me. I never chose anything I would not want in my own home, which can make parting with them difficult! Sometimes I know my finds are excellent investment buys but that is not my motivation. The ‘buzz’ for me is knowing my own enthusiasm and hopefully ‘my eye’ has helped someone else make part of their home come to life – a wall – a room – or even their whole house – just from the addition of some really good and beautiful works of art.
Happy web site browsing! Let me know if there is anything you need to know about any of the items we have for sale or any other questions at all. I am best contacted by email at: TheAffordableFineArtCompany.com