Capital entertainment

London’s reputation as a dynamic centre of artistic creativity will be amplified this month with London Art Week (June 30 to July 7; www.londonartweek.co.uk) and Mayfair Art Weekend (June 30 to July 2; www.mayfairartweekend.com). More than 40 galleries and three auction houses across the capital will host special exhibitions of works for London Art Week (Art market, page 92), ranging from antiquities and Renaissance old Masters to sculpture and British sporting art.

Coinciding with London Art Week, Lennox Cato of Edenbridge, Kent, is holding a summer exhibition of fine furniture and eclectic works of art at the new London premises of new Yorkbased dealer Carlton Hobbs. Along with a superb Mayhew and Ince commode and a William & Mary seaweed marquetry card or writing table, there is a small collection of contemporary silver. The exhibition, titled ‘A Universal Friend’, is at 16, Bloomfield Terrace, London sw1, until sunday (www.lennoxcato.com)

Mayfair Art Weekend, organised in partnership with the Royal Academy (RA), will see the worlds of art and fashion converge in the West End for a plethora of events. Launched four years ago to revive Mayfair’s role as an artistic hub, the Weekend has gathered pace and more than 60 galleries are now involved. Among the events are conversation sessions with leading artists, including sculptor Emily Young, themed walks led by experts such as RA secretary and chief executive Charles saumarez smith and many gallery tours. Friday night kicks off with an art ‘hop’ around 25 late-opening galleries. Brown’s Hotel, one of the Weekend’s initiators, has organised a ‘gallery safari’ and local restaurants are offering art-themed, all-day dining. Burlington Arcade will be transformed with 300 paper birds in an installation by French designer Mathilde nivet and the party atmosphere will culminate in a free festival in the courtyard of the RA’S Burlington House (above). MM & HM