What’s on Yorkshire: Harrogate Pavilions Decorative, Antiques & Art Fair February 7-9 2025

From February 7-9, 2025 The Pavilions at Harrogate Showground will be transformed into a bustling emporium with artworks, furniture, ceramics, jewellery, glassworks and more on sale.

Works by two renowned Yorkshire artists are sure to attract plenty of interest, their contrasting styles and subject matter bringing both town and country scenes to this first prestige art and antiques event of 2025 in the north of England.

Harrogate artist Brian Sheilds

The first is a superb painting by Harrogate artist Brian Shields, who went by the name BRAAQ. This northern city view is entitled Hiding Behind the Steps!

The artist was born in Liverpool, and left school in 1968, after which he moved to Harrogate to become a trainee chef in a local hotel. To brighten the hotel, he painted a mural and signed it BRAAQ. This stirred a great deal of interest, but the identity of the artist remained a mystery until a local journalist identified Brian Shields as the painter.

Brian Shields never looked back, holding his first exhibition in 1974. In 1977 he was invited to hold his first of four exhibitions in London's West End. It was after this exhibition that 'The Times' described him as "one of the six most successful artists in England".

In 1997, at the age of 46, Brian Shields died, leaving a contribution to the art world which ranks him among the leading artists in the country. Hiding Behind the Steps! in oils on board, will be on sale from Rowles Gallery with a ticket price of £17,500.

Yorkshire artist Herbert Royle

By contrast, a pastoral scene captured on canvas by another leading Yorkshire painter is likely to attract equal interest. This warm and sunny summer’s afternoon in the Yorkshire countryside is depicted by Herbert Royle (1870-1958)

Renowned for his Yorkshire pictures, Royle portrayed the area in all its seasons, and his harvest views and snow scenes are highly sought after. He often painted ‘en plein air’ and went in search of subjects to paint with his easel strapped to his bicycle and carrying a hot potato in his pocket to keep his hands warm. At the fair, Haymaking, Nessfield, in oil on canvas, captures the countryside at its summer best. It will be on sale from local Yorkshire dealers Walker Galleries, with a ticket price of £5,500.

About the Harrogate fair

The Harrogate fair, which has been running at the popular Pavilions venue, part of the Yorkshire Showground, has been running for more than 30 years and attracts visitors from across the north of England and Scotland. A vast range of high-quality art and antiques will be for sale from more than 45 specialist dealers. Prices range from less than £50 for a simple Georgian drinking glass to more than £20,000 for the finest antique furniture, silver and modern and traditional paintings.

Yorkshire antique dealers including Jack Shaw who offers fine English and Scottish silver, Mark Buckley Antiques with formal English antique furniture and Ellis Fine Art specialising in oil paintings and town furniture.

Other specialists offer fine jewellery, pottery and porcelain, 20th century glass, Mid-Century Modern art and design, period lighting, Art Nouveau and Art Deco.

Public Admission is £7.50. (£5 in advance from organisers Cooper Events) Opening times are Friday-Saturday 11am-5pm, Sunday 11am-4.30pm