Adrian Sassoon
British art dealer and gallerist

Adrian Sassoon
BornFebruary 1961 (age 64)
EducationEton College
Christie's Education
OccupationsArt dealer and gallerist
Years active1980–present
FamilySassoon family

Adrian Sassoon (born February 1961) is an English art dealer, art collector and writer.[1] He was schooled at Eton College, where he was taught ceramics by Gordon Baldwin; and then went on to study further at Christie's Education.[2] He worked as an assistant curator at the Getty Museum in the department of decorative arts.[3] He is the owner and founder of Adrian Sassoon Ltd.,[4][5] a gallery specialising in contemporary art,[6][7][8][9] and 18th-century French porcelain.[10] From 2024, his gallery for contemporary art has been based in Belgravia, London.[11]

Early life and education

Sassoon has stated in interviews that he grew up in a family that had a strong appreciation for art and was therefore interested in it from a young age. He was schooled at Sunningdale School and Eton College, where he was taught ceramics by Gordon Baldwin.[12][13]

He became fascinated with collecting art and began to do so while still a teenager.[14]

Career

Sassoon began his career working at the Getty Museum at the age of 19. He worked as a junior curator specialising in 18th-century French works of art. This speciality has remained with Sassoon throughout his career. After working at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Sassoon moved to London to work with a prominent art dealer, who was known for selling 17th & 18th-century decorative arts to American museums.[14] In 1991, he authored the Getty Museum catalogue of Vincennes and Sèvres porcelain.[15]

By 1992, Sassoon had amassed a collection of Vincennes ceramics from the 18th century. Apart from a handful of pieces, he sold the collection in the early 1990s to the Sèvres - Manufacture et Musée nationaux when he first went it alone as a prominent dealer in this field.[16] Since selling his first Vincennes collection, over the subsequent decades he formed another collection of the same early French porcelain.[17][16] Twenty pieces of this second collection were on loan for five years at the Getty Museum from 2018 to 2023.[18][19]

A number of pieces in Sassoon's art collection have been displayed in museums around the world.[20][16] He is also known to be a collector of various French 18th-century works of art and pastels,[21] photography of his own generation, sculptures by Hiroshi Suzuki, a leading contemporary silversmith, as well as other contemporary works of art.[22][23] Sassoon curated a selection of contemporary ceramics and silver in Inspired by Chatsworth for Sotheby's New York exhibition in 2019 in association with The Chatsworth Estate.[24] During the same year, it was announced that three works by Dame Magdalene Odundo from Sassoon's collection were on display at The Hepworth Wakefield.[25]

Since the mid-1990s, Sassoon has represented a number of established artists working in ceramics, glass, gold, silver, lacquer and hardstones, and is most widely known as a leading art dealer in this field.[26][27] Kate Malone, Hiroshi Suzuki,[28]  Elizabeth Fritsch, Felicity Aylieff,[29] Junko Mori,[30] Hitomi Hosono,[31] Clare Belfrage,[32] Stephen Cox,[33] Bouke de Vries,[34] Pippin Drysdale,[35] Tim Edwards,[36] Ndidi Ekubia,[37] Hans Kotter,[38] and Takahiro Kondo[39] are among the artists represented by Sassoon.[40] Sassoon shows works by the artists he represents at international art and design fairs, including TEFAF Maastricht, TEFAF New York, Design Miami, as well as Treasure House Fair in London and PAD London.[41][42][43][44][45][46]

In 2007, Sassoon was appointed as a trustee of The Wallace Collection, holding the position until 2015.[47][48] From 2013 to 2019, Sassoon served as a trustee of The Silver Trust in London, which provided a collection of contemporary British silver for the use of the Prime Minister at Number 10 Downing Street.[49]

In 2013, Sassoon authored a monograph for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, on JAR, the leading contemporary jewellery designer Joel A. Rosenthal.[50]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020, Sassoon held The London House of Modernity exhibition[21] in collaboration with Modernity where contemporary works of art were exhibited in an 18th-century London townhouse.[36] In 2021, Sassoon organised an online exhibition at Parham House and Gardens, an Elizabethan house in Sussex recorded by filmmaker Freddie Leyden.[51][52]

He is currently a member of the International Council of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[53] In 2024, he became a trustee of The Attingham Trust[54][55] and he has also been a member of committees of the patrons' groups for The Wallace Collection in London and The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Sassoon supports the publication of catalogues associated with museum exhibitions at The Wallace Collection in London,[56] The National Gallery in London and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.[57][58][59]

Personal life

Sassoon was born in London and is a member of the Sassoon family, the son of Hugh Meyer Sassoon (first cousin of Siegfried Sassoon) and Marion (née Schiff); he is the great-great-grandson of Sassoon David Sassoon. He is married to Edmund Burke,[60][10] a descendant of politician and philosopher Edmund Burke.

Articles and essays

  • Vincennes and Sèvres Porcelain from a European Private Collection, International Ceramics Fair & Seminar, 2001[61]

Books

  • Decorative Arts: A Handbook of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum. 1986.
  • Vincennes and Sèvres Porcelain: Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum. 1991.
  • Jewels by JAR. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2013.
  • Sassoon, Adrian. Foreword. Colin Reid: Glass Sculpture, edited by Clare Beck and Kathleen Slater. Lund Humphries, 2013.
  • Sassoon, Adrian. Foreword. Kate Malone: Inspired by Waddesdon. London: Adrian Sassoon, 2016.
  • Sassoon, Adrian. “The Classic Qualities of Excellence.” Kondo Takahiro: Vessel, Body, Void. Mitsumura Suiko Shoin, Japan, 2022.
  • Sassoon, Adrian. Foreword. Force of Nature: The Art of Kate Malone, edited by Mark Piolet, Kathleen Slater, and Andrew Wicks. Skira, 2024.
  • Sassoon, Adrian. Foreword. Expressions in Blue: Monumental Porcelain by Felicity Aylieff, edited by Mark Piolet, Kathleen Slater, and Andrew Wicks. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Surrey, 2024.
  • Sassoon, Adrian. “Memory Vessels.” Bouke de Vries: UNBROKEN. Waanders Publishers, Netherlands, 2025.

References

  1. ^ Moore, Susan (June 2019). "A Potted History". Apollo Magazine: 66–71.
  2. ^ Debrett’s People of Today, 2015, pp.1273-4.
  3. ^ Brady, Anna "Hustlers with a habit: what five Tefaf exhibitors collect and why" Theartnewspaper.com, published 8 March 2019, date retrieved 21 November 2019
  4. ^ "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  5. ^ "Adrian Sassoon". Adrian Sassoon. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  6. ^ "What to see at London’s Collect Art Fair" architecturaldigest.com, published 30 April 2015, date retrieved 21 November 2019.
  7. ^ Spence, Rachel (21 September 2018) "Quick silver: the art of Hiroshi Suzuki". Financial Times. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  8. ^ Crichton-Miller, Emma (23 September 2016) "Japanese historic art with contemporary sensibility". Financial Times. Retrieved 21 November 2019.
  9. ^ Pogrebin, Robin (23 December 2013). "Jewelry Show at Met Raises Questions". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  10. ^ a b Etherington-Smith, Meredith (3 November 2015). "Adrian Sassoon's Classic Country Retreat in Devon, England". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  11. ^ DeMarco, Anthony. "TEFAF Names Dominique Savelkoul As Its New Managing Director". Forbes. Retrieved 17 September 2025.
  12. ^ Etherington-Smith, Meredith (3 November 2015). "Adrian Sassoon's Classic Country Retreat in Devon, England". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  13. ^ "Profile: Adrian Sassoon". www.treasurehousefair.com. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  14. ^ a b "Interview with Adrian Sassoon". exero.com. IKON TV. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  15. ^ Sassoon, Adrian, Vincennes and Sèvres Porcelain: Catalogue of the Collections, J. Paul Getty Museum, 1992, ISBN 0892361735.
  16. ^ a b c Brady, Anna (8 March 2019). "Hustlers with a habit: what five Tefaf exhibitors collect and why". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  17. ^ Sigee, Rachael (29 September 2020). "Gallerist Adrian Sassoon on Art in Lockdown & Launching Sotheby's Showroom". Sothebys. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  18. ^ "Magazine | Summer 2021" (PDF). Getty Museum. 23 September 2025. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 February 2024. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
  19. ^ Getty Museum (2 March 2023). From Dolphins to Kings: French Porcelain at the Getty. Retrieved 23 September 2025 – via YouTube.
  20. ^ "The C C Land Exhibition: Pierre Bonnard: The Colour of Memory Opens at the Tate Modern". Medium.com, published 16 April 2019, date retrieved 12 November 2020
  21. ^ a b Barrett, Helen (2 October 2020). "The ebullient world of Adrian Sassoon". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  22. ^ Spence, Rachel (21 September 2018) "Quick silver: the art of Hiroshi Suzuki". Financial Times. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  23. ^ "Artists Who Bridge Art, Design, and Technology". 9 November 2017.
  24. ^ Glendall, Colin (25 June 2019) ""Get the Chatsworth look: a new sale of art pays tribute to one of England's great stately homes". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  25. ^ Brady, Anna "Hustlers with a habit: what five Tefaf exhibitors collect and why" Theartnewspaper.com, published 8 March 2019, date retrieved 12 November 2019
  26. ^ "The ebullient world of Adrian Sassoon". Financial Times. 2 October 2020.
  27. ^ Ryder, Bethan (2 November 2017) "Hitomi Hosono's botanical beauty unfurls at the Daiwa Foundation". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  28. ^ Spence, Rachel (21 September 2018). "Quick silver: the art of Hiroshi Suzuki".
  29. ^ "Meet the Artist Taking Blue-and-White China to New Heights at Kew Gardens, Literally". Yahoo Life. 5 November 2024. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  30. ^ Brettler, Rachelle Gryn (14 November 2018). "The Japanese artisans flourishing in the UK".
  31. ^ "Vivid life: Hitomi Hosono's ceramics animate a London showroom". Wallpaper*. 9 October 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  32. ^ "Pick of the fair: Adrian Sassoon". Apollo Magazine. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  33. ^ Yerebakan, Text: Osman Can. "Highlights from Adrian Sassoon at the London House of Modernity Exhibition". Interior Design. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  34. ^ designboom, sofia lekka angelopoulou I. (20 October 2020). "bouke de vries on repurposing broken ceramics into fragmented porcelain sculptures". designboom | architecture & design magazine. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  35. ^ Moore, Susan (30 April 2018). "What to look out for at TEFAF New York Spring". Apollo Magazine. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  36. ^ a b Yerebakan, Text: Osman Can. "Highlights from Adrian Sassoon at the London House of Modernity Exhibition". Interior Design. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  37. ^ Tobin, Emily (9 April 2021). "The vital, tactile art of silversmith Ndidi Ekubia". House & Garden. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  38. ^ Martin, Peter (12 October 2023). "Must-see highlights from PAD London Design + Art 2023". culturalunion.com. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  39. ^ "Giles Kime: 'Why contemporary art should become a feature of everyday life'". Country Life. 29 August 2025. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  40. ^ Loos, Ted [ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/26/arts/masterpiece-london-art-fair.html "Connecting the Dots at Masterpiece London"]. The New York Times. Retrieved 12 November 2020.
  41. ^ Akers, Torey (5 December 2024). "In pictures: the best of Design Miami". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  42. ^ Schuster, Angela M. H. (1 May 2018). "Artistry in Gold Draws the Eye at TEFAF New York Spring". Robb Report. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  43. ^ Herring, Sophia (11 May 2023). "Design dealers set the tone at Tefaf New York". The Art Newspaper - International art news and events. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  44. ^ O’Sullivan, Des (14 June 2025). "Antiques and Fine Art: London calling for Treasure House Fair". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  45. ^ Collections, Arts & (30 May 2024). "Treasure House Fair Returns to Chelsea". Arts & Collections. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  46. ^ Yerebakan, Words: Osman Can. "7 Highlights from PAD London". Interior Design. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  47. ^ "The Wallace Collection: Annual Report and Accounts 2010-2011" (PDF). Gov.UK. 18 July 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  48. ^ Gov.UK, Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street (5 August 2011). "Wallace Collection Trustees". Gov.UK. Retrieved 20 November 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  49. ^ "Our Team: Adrian Sassoon". www.adriansassoon.com. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  50. ^ "Jewels by JAR - Adrian Sassoon". YaleBooks. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  51. ^ Smith, Ellie (3 November 2021). "The Best UK Art Exhibitions of 2021". Country and Town House. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  52. ^ "'Few things of beauty were intended to be cut loose in a Minimalist void': How context enhances art". Country Life. 28 June 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  53. ^ "The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Annual Report 2018 - 2019" (PDF). The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 April 2024. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  54. ^ "The Attingham Trust for the Study of Historic Houses and Collections in Britain. - Charity 1210957". prd-ds-register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  55. ^ "Trustees and Patrons | The Attingham Trust". www.attinghamtrust.org. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  56. ^ "Inspiring Walt Disney: The Animation of French Decorative Arts". www.wallacecollection.org. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  57. ^ "Van Gogh's Cypresses - The Metropolitan Museum of Art". www.metmuseum.org. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  58. ^ "After Impressionism: Inventing Modern Art | Past exhibitions | National Gallery, London". www.nationalgallery.org.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  59. ^ "Discover Liotard and the Lavergne Family | Past exhibitions | National Gallery, London". www.nationalgallery.org.uk. Retrieved 15 September 2025.
  60. ^ Gatherer, Ilona (17 March 2017). "16 of the most beautiful stately bedrooms". Tatler. Retrieved 20 September 2025.
  61. ^ Sassoon, Adrian Vincennes and Sèvres Porcelain from a European Private Collection, International Ceramics Fair & Seminar, 2001.
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