Rarely a day goes past without a memory of #PeterBatkin blazing a shower of light through the grinding pain of my daily life; reminding me of the historic impact #eccentrics have on the world. “History is not made by conformists it is made by #eccentrics those daring individuals who not only elevate the social temperature of a room by their presence, they change the world by cutting a line of their own in the way they think live & dress.” Peter entered my life while I was still grieving for my father - a British spy in WWII - & grappling with my diagnosis for a #braintumour We embarked on our own missions through those parts of Mayfair & St James’s relatively unchanged since the 17th & 18th C ⚜️Most people remember Peter as the director of @sothebys but it was his work in the 80s & 90s with MI6 & the KGB in Russia finding & recovering #artcollections missing since WWII & a host of secret missions all highlighting his bravery & commitment to opposing #injustice & #prejudice ⚜️Batkin made history in 1988 by holding the first #artauction in #Russia since the #bolshevikrevolution — The Russian Avant-Garde & Soviet Contemporary Art Auction netted £4 mil - but it was the power of art to unite that motivated Peter ⚜️ His death last year felled me - sucking hope & joy from my life. Peter was a true #eccentric & the world is poorer without him. A man who lived for the arts, #beauty & #pleasure that glorious triumvirate that feuled #theenlightenment - the flame of which Peter & all eccentrics keep alight in our hearts 💜 (at Mayfair) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6G-TMcAYqc/?igshid=17gy0x6q32iby
