Owners put gallery in the picture by promoting new art on the Web
A mix of high tech, plus 19th, 20th and 21st century works, is proving a great success in what was a rarefied world, says MAISHA FROST...
First-time entrepreneurs Charles Bradstock and Joshua Darby have mastered the art of using the global marketplace to grow their small business. They own Browse & Darby (B&D), a gallery in London’s Mayfair that, contrary to the impression its upmarket location gives, is just as exposed as any other independent venture to the commercial pressures of a rapidly changing sector.
However, the gallery is more than holding its own, and that is down to Darby and Bradstock’s commitment to innovation in online marketing and selling as well as product development. Turnover is expected to increase by £500,000 this year to £1.5million.
Yet the innovative approach in this case does not mean featuring abstract, Turner Prize-type videos where nothing much ever happens.
Browse & Darby, which employs three staff, specialises in traditional figurative art — modern English classics, 19th-century French painting and sculpture, along with a roster of 20 up-and-coming contemporary artists.
The revenue comes from dealing in and reselling these art works, staging exhibitions, taking part in international art fairs and consultancy work in areas such as insurance, probate valuations, restoration and tax advice.
“We have a unique mix of arts and eras, no other London gallery works in this way,” says Bradstock, 43.
He sees the main challenge as “keeping to your strengths and moving with the times without being unduly influenced by fashion and fleeting trends.
“It would make not make sense for us to start showing modern abstract work because this is not what we know about or what our buyers come to us for,” he argues.
Darby, 36, inherited his share of the business from his dealer father, William, who remains a consultant. He started it with art historian Lillian Browse in 1977.
It was a combination of their broad expertise and the fact that even pictures by well-known artists were comparatively inexpensive in those days that translated into the gallery’s diverse portfolio.
Bradstock, who learned the ropes during his time with auctioneer Sotheby’s, fulfilled a long-held ambition to be his own boss and bought into the business 12 years ago.
While recognising the value of what they had, Darby and Bradstock knew they needed to take the business forward.
Preserving the legacy would require a strategy and growth plan that tackled current commercial realities. One of those was stock shortages. The gallery trades in big-ticket names such as Edgar Degas, Walter Sickert and Barbara Hepworth but that on its own is not sustainable. “Artists die, the supply is finite, we had to address this,” says Bradstock.
Signing up 20 living artists, who sell 95 per cent of their work through the gallery, has been one successful answer and it brought on board a wider catchment of younger buyers.
The average gallery spend is between £3,000 and £4,000, although first-time buyers could find a work for considerably less. “This art is more affordable, so we are capturing clients earlier,” Bradstock explains. “That reflects the increase in interest in art generally.
“Those new buyers we attract may stay at this level, which is fine, but they may build up their collections as they become more affluent.
“Our offering allows them to stay with us and grow as collectors, but it is built on initial affordability. We are going to develop this even more by starting to offer prints and increase our accessibility.”
Successful product expansion has been helped by practical moves, such as changing store rooms on the gallery’s first floor into exhibition space. “This has given us flexibility, we can show bigger works and more than one exhibition at a time.
“Interest in figurative art has always been there but more new young talents are emerging now than for a long time,” says Bradstock. The two men are putting their own taste on the walls of the gallery. “We would never buy something we didn’t like just because it was fashionable,” says Darby. But that means having to live with the consequences of snapping up or turning down the next big thing.
Probably their most valuable acquisitions to date have been by the British painter Euan Uglow, who died in 2000 and is best known outside the art world for a nude portrait of his friend, the young Cherie Booth. His work is increasing in value and B&D is now representing younger artists who trained under him at the Slade art school.
Another signing attracting a growing following is Nick Johnson, who works in wood off-cuts and whose life-size camel is now prized by an American collector.
But it is the coming of age of internet trading that is most transforming how art is bought, what can be bought and who buys it. The changes are opening up opportunities that B&D has been quick to exploit. “People are busier these days, they tend to look at pieces online before visiting to view,” explains Darby, who has overseen the building of the gallery’s website.
“You cannot be a serious art dealer and not have a site,” he says. “This has allowed us to reach more foreign buyers, some of these buy from us purely online. It is a two-way benefit because we also use the Web to research pieces and artists.”
Showcasing their wares on the site Artnet.com, which draws a big international crowd, has been particularly successful, bringing B&D new customers from the US, Australia and mainland Europe. The decision to invest in a presence at major international art fairs has also paid off, in the US particularly, with 40 per cent of custom coming from American buyers.
Now, the gallery’s stock capacity is increasing by 10 per cent (25 per cent in value) — figures over which Bradstock & Darby are more than happy to cast an appreciative eye.
* Browse & Darby: 020 7734 7984, www.browseanddarby.co.uk
