With art being increasingly viewed as a viable form of alternative investment, exhibitiions are being held this month in New York and London of the work of expressionist painter Lancelot Ribeiro.  

A Bombay-born artist's series of exhibitions in London and New York highlights how the worlds of fine art and wealth continue to intersect.

Lancelot Ribeiro, born into a Roman Catholic family from Goa, is making a splash in the international art world. His first paintings, which date from 1958, were mainly expressionistic oil townscapes influenced by the Goan landscape.

And the focus on this artist is another example of how fine art brings particular issues of interest to high net worth individuals and their advisors. (See also here.)

Ribeiro first moved to England in 1950, and studied part-time at St Martin’s School of Art. After returning to Bombay in 1955, he became a full-time artist in 1958. Over his career, Ribeiro held nearly 70 solo and group exhibitions in India, the UK, Paris, Germany, Chicago, and San Francisco. He participated in exhibitions alongside his brother, which included The Arts of India at the Towner Art Gallery (1966) and Five Indian Artists (1976) organised by Maria Souza’s ARTS 38. His last major solo exhibition was a retrospective at Leicester’s Museum & Art Gallery (1986), which showcased his work from 1960 to 1986. He returned to India for one last exhibition in 1998, 30 years after he originally left. 

In New York, the exhibition “Requiem” presents a selection of works drawn from Ribeiro’s six-decade career, with the earliest from 1962 – the year he left India for a new life in London – to the latest in 2004. Requiem is presented in collaboration with 108 Art Projects India. Taking place from 15 August to 21 September at the Aicon gallery, the exhibition brings together several pieces the artist exhibited when he returned to Goa in 1969, including previously unseen erotic works. On display at the first appearance of Ribeiro’s work in New York, there is a townscape dedicated to Dr Homi Bhabha and Stricken Monk (1968) which featured in Art in America’s 1969 London Galleries review.

Working in partnership with the estate of Lancelot Ribeiro (1933 Bombay (Mumbai), India – 2010 London, England), Ben Uri is also exhibiting Ribeiro’s “Heads – In and Out of Our Time” in London this autumn from 18 September to 29 November 2024. The exhibition reflects Ben Uri’s core research on the refugee and immigrant contribution to British visual culture since 1900. Riberio’s work, which has has been funded by the UK’s Heritage Lottery Fund, can also be seen at the Tate Britain, part of modern and contemporary British art, as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Art exhibitions are also increasingly sponsored by financial institutions such as the Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of America (see an example here) and Deutsche Bank to enrich people's lives and to help communities prosper. RBC’s own art collection consists of more than 5,500 works in over 30 locations across Canada, and key locations globally. The collection's acquisitions focus on the work of emerging artists, with select acquisitions by mid-career and senior artists. Each year, the RBC Foundation also donates millions of dollars to hundreds of global arts organisations to give more help to emerging artists to establish their careers.

Alternative investment
With people increasingly viewing art as a viable form of alternative investment, the appetite for art as an asset class has risen among high net worth individuals in recent years, partly in response to the instability in financial markets. 

Buying art also allows firms or individuals to make tax savings. There are various UK tax incentives which allow art amassed during a lifetime to pass to future generations in a tax-efficient way.

The UK’s Acceptance-in-Lieu scheme, which Arts Council England administers, allows a taxpayer who has an inheritance tax bill or one of its earlier forms, to pay the tax by transferring artifacts which have a cultural and historical significance. The UK Cultural Gifts Scheme also offers tax incentives for taxpayers willing to gift artworks for public benefit, for example. Schemes related to cultural philanthropy also exist in France, Mexico, the Netherlands, and the US, amongst others.