About Us

ARCHEUS / POST-MODERN is a private dealership in Knightsbridge, London, exhibiting at selected art fairs in London and the USA. Our director Brian Balfour-Oatts has 40 years of experience in the art world, beginning his career at Sotheby's in 1985. He curates a wide stock of international Post-War & Contemporary Art for the company and has extensive knowledge in most aspects of art of the 19th - 21st centuries, with particular interest in the works of Josef Albers, Lucian Freud, David Hockney, Joan Mitchell, Bridget Riley, Ed Ruscha and Pierre Soulages.

In 2023 Brian was appointed advisor to the Estate of Emily Fisher Landau, negotiating and overseeing the auction process for the sale of the 1000 or so works in the art collection, which had remained after Fisher Landau's Whitney Museum bequest of a further 367 works.

The evening auction of Emily Fisher Landau's collection in November 2023 at Sotheby's in New York brought $406.4m, the 4th highest sale total in Sotheby's history and the most valuable collection ever amassed by a female collector in all of auction history. The star of the sale was Pablo Picasso's 1932 painting Femme à la montre, which made $139.4m and was the most valuable work sold at auction that year. The average lot value in the evening sale was $13m and 5 works sold for more than $20m, including iconic paintings by Jasper Johns and Ed Ruscha. Artist's records were set for Agnes Martin and Mark Tansey and the size and value of the collection made it one of the top 5 single-owner estate sales in history, alongside those of Paul Allen, Peggy and David Rockefeller, Linda and Harry Macklowe and former owner of Sotheby's A. Alfred Taubman.

Advisory and valuation services are available upon application. You can follow Brian's art travels on Instagram @brian_balfouroatts and @archeuspostmodern.

We operate by appointment only. To make an appointment please contact us here or call on +44 7979 695079 or from the US (212) 652 1665.

We always wish to purchase works by International Modern and Contemporary artists