Throughout the fair, the best presentations sought to expand, redefine, or offer new ways of entering into the canon, rather than re-enforcing it.
There was a palpable buzz at the sixth edition of Frieze Masters. An excitement whipped up by the exhilarating way ancient and modern were brought together by galleries offering intriguing blends of artefact and artwork. This is a fair that makes history feel accessible. It was remarkable to see the Alaskan Kodiak Madonna (dating to 500–200 BCE), in such close proximity to Brancusi's black and white photograph of a similar-looking Cycladic-inspired sculpture, The First Step (c. 1914); as was the case when walking from Donald Ellis Gallery, where some 2000 years of Inuit art was on display, to Bruce Silverstein's booth, where a selection of Man Ray photographs were on show for the first time.
