British Airways ‘in talks to sell the art in its lounges’

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• Sunguy says:

  11 Jun11 June 09:26

  I’m not an art lover – at all……BUT – if BA help out UK artists and help promote their work, then I’m all for it in many ways…..especially if it gives UK artists a world forum to compete on….

  These pieces you show here – I couldn’t give a flying faff about – if it makes them a few pennies to sell them, then why not – and in replacement, they should give these spaces over to displaying up and coming British artists…..either on-loan for a month at a time or buying them to help the artists out….

  However, I was a little disappointed to see the removal of some of the BA heritage collection from the displays between the Concorde lounge and the spa in T5 -(its now just dead space) its always nice to have something to look at….especially telling the history of the airline…..it would be nice to see more of that in spaces too……

• Jim Kavanagh says:

  11 Jun11 June 09:36

  It’s a very good idea – now to empty our national galleries to pay for the COVID costs.

  • Alex M says:

    11 Jun11 June 09:42

    Rishi, is that you?

• Jonathan says:

  11 Jun11 June 11:46

  This story is also in the Guardian where they add the comment :

  “However, with some analysts believing that the lucrative business travel market may never return to pre-crisis levels, lounges are likely to have more austere decor in future.”

  https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jun/10/ba-auction-art-collection-coronavirus

  • Anna says:

    11 Jun11 June 12:37

    Oh lord, does that also mean they’ll be serving prosecco in the Concorde lounge?! (On my one and only visit last year I overheard the barman saying sniffily to an American lady that “we don’t serve prosecco, only champagne.”

• Steve says:

  11 Jun11 June 12:39

  I’ll give them £30 for the lot

• Sumira A says:

  11 Jun11 June 13:07

  Is there a date for the auction?

  • Rob says:

    11 Jun11 June 13:12

    No. These things take quite a while to get selected, photographed, catalogued etc and the sale calendars are fixed a year in advance so you need to slot into an existing auction of relevant material. For the high value items Sothebys will even lend the pictures to potential buyers for a few days so they can see how it looks on their wall.

    • Hugh says:

      12 Jun12 June 10:33

      Oh dear! I shall miss that arty je ne sais quoi as I champ my way through the beef tajine. Here’s somewhere that won’t be flogging off its modern art any time soon: Hotel Castell, Zuoz, Switzerland. Features a neon sign IT’S FREEZING IN HERE (by David Shrigley) and Skyspace Piz Utèr (by James Turrell). Or how about an IHG Indigo night? Grand Hotel des Arts, Verona. With works by Ciardi, Cascella, Minguzzi, Manzù, Purificato, Murer, Arnoldi and many others. Yay!

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