ARCHEUS was founded in Bond Street in 1991 by Scottish art dealer Brian Balfour-Oatts, who began his career at Sotheby’s in 1985. Balfour-Oatts made the most of the last years of the 80s boom, selling an important Picasso of Dora Maar to the famous collector Heinz Berggruen, and convincing art-dealing legend Daniel Wildenstein to sell him a Monet Haystack, all before the age of 24. ARCHEUS initially specialised in German Expressionism, as Balfour-Oatts prised top quality oils by Erich Heckel and Emil Nolde from the collection of Canadian connoisseur Charles Tabachnick, a collection made famous by landmark auctions of Expressionist watercolours at Sotheby’s.
A developing interest in Twentieth Century British Art gave the gallery a following of loyal clients in London and in the US, and in 2000, ARCHEUS opened its first street level gallery in London’s Albemarle Street. ARCHEUS’ initial programme at the gallery was predominantly British, holding successful solo exhibitions of William Scott, Bryan Pearce, Lucian Freud and Bridget Riley amongst others. ARCHEUS’ 2005 survey of William Scott’s original prints remains the most comprehensive to have been staged to date, and the exhibition catalogue is the most complete reference work on the subject in existence.
As the exhibition programme moved towards International Post-War & Contemporary, the gallery held a well-regarded survey of Op Art in 2006, as well as one of the few commercial exhibitions by American conceptual artist Dan Flavin ever to have been held in London. The Unseen Hand: Minimalism and Anonymity, a 2006 exhibition featuring work by Donald Judd, Carl Andre, Robert Ryman and Agnes Martin remains the gallery’s best received and attended exhibition. ARCHEUS expanded to include Archeus Editions, and published the acclaimed Zoo Portfolios in 2005 and 2006, containing individual editions by artists who have since become internationally recognised and collected: Ryan Gander, Jose Dávila, Tonico Lemos Auad, Anj Smith &c.
Becoming a private dealership in 2011, ARCHEUS / POST-MODERN is based in London, and exhibits regularly at art fairs in the USA. We are always interested in purchasing works by the German Expressionists, International Modern and Contemporary artists and we are active specialists in the etchings of Lucian Freud.
