Mark Anthony Lawrence

Mark Anthony Lawrence
Born	(1986-10-17) 17 October 1986 Reading, Berkshire, England
Occupation	Art Collector, Cultural Philanthropist, Connoisseur, Art Dealer
Known for	The Reading Gallery, The Museum in Motion Project , Cultural Philanthropy in Berkshire
Website	www.museuminmotion.co.uk

Mark Antony Lawrence (born October 17, 1986) is a controversial British art collector, connoisseur and cultural philanthropist.

Lawrence is best known for his controversial coverage in global newspapers during the summer of 2014 regarding the public display of an unauthenticated painting attributed to the artist Vincent Van Gogh which lead to a media storm, when it's authenticity was brought into question by a leading expert associated with the Van Gogh Museum

History as a collector

Lawrence began collecting at 7 years of age, his first item of purchase was a silver Queen Victoria golden jubilee card case. By the time he was 11 years old he had amassed a collection of over 200 antique items, not including a philately collection containing over 3,000 antique postal stamps. Lawrence has since amassed a private collection that contains over 1,200 works of art and historical artefacts including one of the most impressive collections of Pre-Columbian art in the United Kingdom. Lawrence has made a number of minor discoveries in the field of fine art and antiques.^[1] On the 13th of September 2011 Lawrence appeared on the ITV program Dickinson's Real Deal when it visited Reading, Berkshire and demonstrated his skill as an antiques dealer when he sold an 18th-century Bohemian glass drinking flask for £100 and later revealed to the expert that he had only paid 50p for the item himself.

Lawrence has been a studio guest of Eddie Winship's Community Matters show at Reading College radio station Blast 1386AM three times since 2014.

Reading gallery controversy regarding Van Gogh authenticity

Lawrence made international news, when on 9 July 2014 he decided to support a local arts trail program by exhibiting a painting in his collection he believed to be by the artist Vincent Van Gogh that was purchased by his grandfather some years prior. It is unclear whether or not the media reported incorrect information as Lawrence later stated, but the painting was publicly put across by the BBC as an authentic work worth millions of pounds.^[2] Lawrence later stated that he was asked about it's value and declared to the reporter that he " Did not wish to discuss such vulgar matters and that the painting had not yet been authenticated " None the less a Van Gogh expert in Canada, named David Brooks quickly gave his opinion that the work was a rather poor copy and nothing more.^[3]

Later investigation revealed that the painting had in fact been purchased by Lawrence and was not a part of his grandfathers supposed collection that had been mentioned beforehand, Lawrence explained that this was an error on his part with the reporter of an earlier article and that he felt stupid to admit to it at a later date.^[4]

British newspaper, The Telegraph even went as far to call the whole affair "One of the worlds greatest art hoaxes"^[5]

Philanthropy

Lawrence has been a major supporter of the arts in his home town of Reading, Berkshire and acted as a trustee for a number of charities in the town. He is a strong believer in the statement that " Private art collections should be enjoyed by the public, as well as the owner " which was the main reason behind him founding The Museum in Motion Project. He was also instrumental in the promotion of Reading Borough Council's Art & Heritage forum, creating it's social media outlet on Facebook which increased it's numbers from little more than 40 members to over 400. He continues to act as an admin for the forum and attend it's quarterly meetings held in the Mayors parlour.^[6]

Lawrence has gifted a number of items to local museums in Berkshire, prior to the Reading Gallery controversy, Lawrence was nominated for a Pride of Reading award for Cultural Contribution in the town by Reading's leading newspaper Reading Post ^[7]

In March 2016 Lawrence launched an online store called www.houseofalbertine.com as suppliers of fine art, antiques, antiquities and home decor in support of The Museum in Motion Project, 25% of sales are pledged to help the project achieve it's goals in relation to free exhibitions in public venues across Berkshire including local schools, colleges and universities.

Lawrence is a strong supporter of the arts in education and condemns the proposed changes in the curriculum that could see Art removed as a subject^[8] stating "Our young people in local schools need to be exposed to cultural and artistic experiences, this includes whose partaking in higher education. Art is a window onto our ever changing world and a means of self expression. To deny school children this creative outlet would be a great crime against humanities artistic nature"

The Museum in Motion project

In 2015 Lawrence founded The Museum in Motion Project, a cultural community arts program that aims to provide free public exhibitions across Southern England and showcase the Albertine Collection, which Lawrence has personally amassed over 20 years of collecting. The collection contains over 1,200 works of art, antiques and antiquities but also looks after The Madeline Wetten Collection of Indus Valley Pottery, The Dr Noel Cochrane Collection of Pre-Columbian art and the Eddie Winship Collection of Social and Historical artefacts.

Collection highlights include the believed first shirt of the infant George IV, A newspaper owned by John Quincy Adams, A mirror said to have been owned by Marie Antoinette, The possible only period ivory carving of Mary, Queen of Scots and her husband Lord Darnley and a rare Italian Renaissance painting on copper known as the Francesco St Jerome , which underwent a two year long research and restoration program at The Courtauld Institute of Art for the benefit of studying students.^[9] MIM also works with local schools, colleges and universities. The project is completely funded by Lawrence.

The project is currently organising a number of specially curated exhibitions across Berkshire including an interfaith art exhibit and a sensitive exploration of the horrors of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. Lawrence held Berkshire's first ever public exhibition of Pre-Columbian art in "Modelled in Clay" launched in Reading on the 30th July 2015 at Watlington House ^[10]

References

Links

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