Inspiring Art Journeys
The auction house Christie’s and bespoke travel specialists Abercrombie and Kent have teamed up to offer a selection of guided art tours.
Article by Rupert Watkins
Inspiring Art Journeys was launched last Thursday evening at Christie’s South Kensington and offers an excellent range of intimate and extremely knowledgeable educational tours that cover both the geographical globe and the world of art.
Tours of India, China, Egypt, the South of France and the Contempory Art scene in New York are amongst those on offer. Drawing on the unrivalled expertise of Christie’s specialist departments, the traveller will be able to be offered insights into the life of Matisse, the Pitti Palace in Florence or gain expert access to this year’s Venice Biennale. Certainly during the evening, the trips to Florence and Venice were leading the charge in terms of interest and some early bookings. As Ben Clark, Managing Director Christie’s travel remarked in his introduction, in the 250 years of Christie’s existence the Grand Tour has remained remarkably popular in one form or another!
As Mr Clark stressed several time during his speech, the hallmark of Christie’s approach was the “passion” for art that drives them as a firm, their specialists and the collectors, dealers and connoisseurs with which they deal. Be it the Grand Tour of the English Dilettantes and aristocracy or the modern globally minded collector, what binds all together is the all-encompassing love of art and beauty. On behalf of Abercrombie and Kent, founder and CEO Geoffrey Kent laid great stress on the tradition his company has invested in “having boots on the ground”. From it’s beginnings, A&K has always looked to open up new areas and opportunities for the adventurous and sophisticated traveller. Allied to this, the firm strives to ensure it cannot be bettered for local knowledge both historically and practically.
These tours are not cheap and are aimed at the passionate and serious student or connoisseur of art. They do though offer a remarkable experience and whichever one is chosen, the chance to deepen ones knowledge with some of the top specialists in those fields. 