Sotheby's London will stage 'The New Situation - Art in London in the Sixties'

KOLKATA: Sotheby's London will stage an exhibition, 'The New Situation - Art in London in the Sixties' in its New Bond Street galleries from September 4-14, 2013. Curated by legendary gallerist Kasmin - the man who gave David Hockney, among others, his first break fifty years ago - the exhibition will aim to recapture the energy and innovative spirit of the London art scene in the Sixties.

The New Situation will feature a selection of works to be offered for sale, and a number loaned from distinguished collections - many of which will be on public view for the first time.

'The New Situation - Art in London in the Sixties' is inspired by a series of photographs of the 'London scene' taken by Lord Snowdon at the end of the 50s and early 60s. Many of these were published in Private View, the remarkable photo essay co-written by critic John Russell and by Bryan Roberston (the maverick director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery) and published in 1965, which encapsulated the British art world at a moment in time when British painters and sculptors, along with British photographers, film stars, musicians and fashion designers had captured the globe's imagination.

Alongside artists who are now recognisable the world over - David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Lucian Freud - there were many bright young talents who are now less well known, but in the sixties were equally admired and shared gallery and museum show billings celebrating this first generation of 'Young British Artists'. The New Situation will once again place these artists side by side, introducing contemporary viewers to the likes of Richard Smith, Robyn Denny, Peter Philips, Derek Boshier and John Latham.

It was fifty years ago that Kasmin's gallery - the first 'white cube' style gallery in London - opened just across the road from Sotheby's, in which he showed young artists from the capital alongside major figures from America and the Continent. In many ways, Kasmin - along with Robert Fraser (perhaps now best known for getting arrested along with the Stones and Marianne Faithfull) - was the Sixties art scene in London. Sotheby's is honoured that he will be curating The New Situation.

The exhibition will run from the September 4-14, 2013 at Sotheby's New Bond Street galleries and will be accompanied by a full-colour catalogue including essays, artists' commentaries from the period and Snowdon's rarely seen high-colour, high-glamour photographs.