BMW Art Guide by Independent Collectors

Cranford Collection

One of Europe’s Most Important Collections with Renowned Contemporaries in Regent’s Park – London

Roe Ethridge, “Gisele on the Phone”, 2013. Photo: Mark Griffiths
Roe Ethridge, “Gisele on the Phone”, 2013. Photo: Mark Griffiths

For over forty years London has been the home of collectors Muriel and Freddy Salem, a place where they acquired their first works of art in the 1990s. First it was the Young British Artists, then other European and American artists were added to their collection. Their elegant home, designed by John Nash in Regency style, is only a stone’s throw away from Frieze London, the annual contemporary art fair held in Regent’s Park. The number-one criterion: being able to live with the artworks in order to confront and experiment with them in their daily life. The collection is rotated approximately every eighteen months and today comprises nearly 700 works. A large number of these are by women artists including Rebecca Warren, Bridget Riley, and Carla Accardi. Distributed over four floors are large-format works by Christopher Wool or Albert Oehlen, alongside works by young stars like Valerie Snobeck and Alex Israel.

Martin Kippenberger, "Nieder mit Casablanca", 1984. Photo: Mark Griffiths
Martin Kippenberger, "Nieder mit Casablanca", 1984. Photo: Mark Griffiths
Franz West, "Untitled". Photo: Manolo Yllera
Franz West, "Untitled". Photo: Manolo Yllera

Anne Reimers is a London-based art historian and journalist, reporting since 2006 on art auctions, fairs, and exhibitions in the British capital. She is also Senior Lecturer for Visual Culture and Fashion Theory at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in Rochester, England.

All images courtesy the Cranford Collection

Installation view. Photo: Manolo Yllera
Installation view. Photo: Manolo Yllera

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