Footnote to Fulcrum: antique dealers, museums and the art market

Join us on for this inaugural lecture of Mark Westgarth, Professor of History of the Art Market at the University of Leeds.

Drawing on more than 15 years of research on the history of antique dealing in Britain, this inaugural lecture traces the relationships between key aspects of the research and its interpolated forms of public engagement and collaboration.

Footnote to Fulcrum directs critical attention to the question of why the art market – so fundamental to the history of art and the history of museums – has been so often concealed, dislocated and marginalised in its histories and practices.

Through publications, curated exhibitions, digital engagement initiatives and forms of creative practice, Professor Mark Westgarth’s research has aimed to reinsert the story of the antique dealer into museum object biographies and to highlight the role that the too often ‘unseen hand’ of the art market has played in the history of museums and the development of museum collections.

Visitors are invited to stay on after the lecture for refreshments, from 7pm onwards.

Antique Dealer Horace Baxter with bronze sculpture of Meleager by 'Antico' (c.1490). Photograph c.1960, courtesy of Gary Baxter.

About the speaker

Mark Westgarth is Professor of History of the Art Market in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies and founder and director of the Centre for the Study of the Art and Antiques Market.

Mark is author of The Emergence of the Antique & Curiosity Dealer 1815-1850: the commodification of historical objects (Routledge, 2020) and ‘A Biographical Dictionary of Antique & Curiosity Dealers’ (2009).

He is also as curator of several museum exhibitions focused on the history of antique dealing, including SOLD! The Great British Antiques Story (The Bowes Museum, 2019) and The Year of the Dealer (2026) – a digital trail in collaboration with The Bowes Museum, Lady Lever Art Gallery, Preston Park Museum, Temple Newsam and The V&A.

Book your place

This lecture is free to attend and all are welcome.

Book your place via this form.

Venue

Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre
Michael Sadler Building
University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT

Accessibility information.

Feature image

C. Charles antique shop, Brook Street, London c.1903. Image courtesy of Antique Dealer Research Project University of Leeds.