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Winston Branch, Untitled, 1997
Asset value
99.050 €
Issue price per Splint
50 €
Total number of Splints
1.981
Investment horizon in years
2 to 4
Return-to-Risk Assessment
6/10
Since launch December ‘24
+0.0%
Main reasons to invest
Return Potential📈: An investment of 500 EUR is projected to be worth approximately 1,245 EUR in 4 years.
Cost-to-Return Ratio⚖️: After deducting 3.6% in annual total costs (including exit fees), your net return could reach 25.6% per year.
Strong Potential 🌠 : Winston Branch’s rising global profile, bolstered by the sustained efforts of Varvara Roza Galleries in the last few years, the upcoming announcement of his representation by a prestigious international gallery, and his forthcoming retrospective at Tate Britain, positions his work for substantial price increases, presenting strong potential for significant returns on investment. Moreover, this painting is offered at a price 39% below the current gallery price for similar-sized works created in the late 1990s and early 2000s, enhancing its potential for returns.
Description
Valuation Summary 📝
To ensure the competitiveness of the investment, we conducted a thorough verification of the purchase price by analyzing recent gallery transactions. Our analysis confirmed that the price offered, inclusive of all associated fees, is highly competitive. To estimate the potential ROI, we used the annualized return of his paintings over the past five years. For our conservative scenario, we assumed the value of the painting would grow at the rate of Swiss inflation, reflecting a defensive approach. In the balanced scenario, we assume a 50% probability of realizing a 28.4% (CAGR of the past 5 years) annual return for the next 4 years. Finally, in the ambitious scenario, we assume a 80% probability of realizing a 28.4% (CAGR of the past 5 years) annual return for the next 4 years. These potential returns over the next four years, under both the balanced and ambitious scenarios, are further enhanced by the 39% discount at which this beautiful work is offered compared to the current gallery price for similar-sized paintings created in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Exit Options at Maturity 🚪
We will manage the exit strategy in collaboration with our expert M&A Arts on behalf of our investors, ensuring the best possible outcome based on market conditions at the time. Depending on the prevailing market situation, the painting will be sold to a private collector or offered at an auction for contemporary art. An auction is considered if the price has developed to the point where the minimum bid matches the market value and there is high demand for works by the artist. Both options are carefully considered, and we will choose the one that maximizes the return for our investors.
Why Invest in This Category? 🎨
For centuries, art was collected for its cultural, emotional, intellectual, political, and economic value. Investing in a mid-career artist offers a mix of financial potential and personal satisfaction, making it an appealing option for both new and seasoned collectors.
Why Invest in This Asset? 💎
Despite exhibiting his work consistently for 60 years, Winston Branch remains, paradoxically, an artist whose work deserves greater levels of exposure and appreciation. Although underrepresented until 2017, when the London-based Varvara Roza Galleries began representing him exclusively, interest in Branch’s work has been steadily growing, and his momentum is just beginning. This is evident from recent quality solo and group exhibitions. After establishing the artist's presence in museums and institutions during the first three years of their partnership, Varvara Roza Galleries collaborated with others to organize three notable solo exhibitions in London: one in 2022 with Simon Lee Gallery and two in 2023 with Cedric Bardawil Gallery and the Blender Gallery. Additionally, in 2023 Sotheby's London featured a solo show of Branch’s works from 1982 to 2006, and in 2024, one of his paintings was selected for the 60th Venice Biennale. A retrospective at Tate Britain, one of the most important museums in the UK and the world, is also scheduled for May 2025. In January 2025, the artist will announce his representation by one of the largest and most prestigious galleries in the world, a move expected to enhance his international market presence, particularly among institutional collectors, and drive up prices. The announcement will be followed by a solo show scheduled for around October 2025.
Description about this asset 🖼️
Winston Branch is a prominent British Postwar and Contemporary painter. He was born in 1947 and raised in Castries, St Lucia (West Indies) until 1958 when his family, who recognized his talent, sent him to England to study art.
He attended the Slade School of Fine Art, where he studied under Frank Auerbach, and mingled with fellow rising stars such as David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, John Hoyland, and Patrick Procktor, and writer Robert Fraser. The Slade gave Branch an exceptional introduction to the art world. By the time he graduated, his work had been shown in notable British galleries, including the Art Lab in Drury Lane, the Crypt of St Martins-in-the-Fields, and the Round House. Internationally, his paintings were exhibited in Algeria and Belgium, and at the Pan African Cultural Festival in 1969. In 1971 he had a solo show in São Paolo, Brazil, which Branch calls the “second most important venue in the world for contemporary painting.” Branch was also a member of the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) (1966–72), a collective of diasporan artists aimed at celebrating a shared sense of Caribbean nationhood, exchanging ideas, and forging a new Caribbean aesthetic in the arts.
It was an exciting moment to be an artist in London, a time marked by radical social change, rebellion and artistic experimentation.
Shortly before graduating in 1970, Branch was also awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome, a two-year scholarship to the British School at Rome, but he found Rome too provincial and returned to the vibrant atmosphere of London in 1972, where he began teaching at Goldsmiths College. Once he felt he had gained the necessary recognition, Branch moved to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he served as Artist-in-Residence. He then relocated to New York in 1973. His two-year stay in the city culminated with a successful show at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery.
Branch returned to London and, in 1976 was invited to spend a year in Berlin as part of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), a prestigious program that invites internationally renowned artists to Berlin to work and contribute to the city’s cultural life. His work was collected by the British ambassador, his son, and Her Britannic Majesty’s Military Government in Berlin.
He represented Great Britain at FESTAC 77 in Lagos, Nigeria – an influential and historically significant festival of arts, music, dance, literature and culture that some regard as a turning point in the development of a black global consciousness.
In 1978, Branch was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and moved back to New York, where the award brought him instant recognition. However, the pressure became overwhelming, and he returned to London in 1985.
In 1986 he joined the Caribbean Express, an art show on a train that traveled across England, showcasing West Indian paintings, literature and music. Shortly after, Branch reconnected with St Lucia, where he was invited to contribute to Project Helen, the St Lucia National Trust program aimed at building a national art collection. While St Lucia turned out to be an excellent environment for painting, Branch found the Caribbean market small and underdeveloped. The total abstraction of his work was often misinterpreted. To continue selling his work, he maintained strong connections with London.
In the early 2000s, Branch held several exhibitions at the Alliance Française in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the Oakland Museum of California, the Berkeley Art Museum, as well as in Argentina and the Dominican Republic.
More recently, he was honored with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Greenwich, London, in 2020. Alongside his artist career, Branch taught fine arts at several institutions in both London and the U.S., including the University of California, Berkeley in 1998 and Kansas State University in 2000. He also worked as a theatrical designer for various theater groups.
In 2018, Tate Britain acquired one of his paintings, Zachary II (1982). The museum will organize a retrospective exhibition in May 2025 featuring this work along with 10 other abstract paintings from the same series, all completed in 1982. This will be a significant event for the artist.
At 77, Branch, who has lived and exhibited internationally for six decades, continues to paint every day. On October 18, 2024, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace; an honor that recognizes services to the creative and fine arts.
Branch’s paintings are in several public and private collections, including Tate Britain (London, UK), the British Museum (London, UK), Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK), The Arts Council of Great Britain (London, UK), Rugby Art Gallery and Museum (Rugby, UK), The Museum of Modern Art (Sāo Paolo, Brazil), The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (New York, USA), The Brooklyn Museum (New York, USA), The Legion of Honor and de Young Museum (San Francisco, USA), The St Louis Art Museum (Missouri, USA), The Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, USA), The Berkeley Art Museum (Berkeley, California), The Hamburger Kunsthalle Museum (Hamburg, Germany) and Saint Lucia National Trust (Saint Lucia, West Indies).
Branch has exhibited his work consistently since the 1960s, He has exhibited paintings and works on paper in over 25 solo shows, and over 75 group shows.
Selected Solo Shows:
Selected Group Shows:
Branch's works are primarily in acrylics. He creates richly colored planes of paint that evoke a hazy atmosphere. Paint is splattered, flicked, or spread in a frenzy of electric color or earthy tones. It is layered to create depths that are then highlighted in equal measure to form landscapes of paints that extend both across and deep into the canvas. Forms occasionally merge into something figurative.
Art critic Carlos Diaz Sosa describes his paintings as “abstract canvases in cool, cloudy colors that have a quality which allow the viewer to explore the depths of the mind. Branch uses paint like a symbol, a purely aesthetic language, an illustration of spirit.”
Context in Time ⏳
Winston Branch's artistic career developed during a period of profound change, both in the art world and in global society. Born in 1947 in St. Lucia, Branch's formative years coincided with the postwar era, a time marked by social and cultural transformations. His move to England in the late 1950s and his studies at the Slade School of Fine Art placed him in the heart of a dynamic artistic community in London during the 1960s, a time of rebellion, experimentation, and radical shifts in art. Branch's involvement with the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) from 1966 to 1972 reflects a broader effort to redefine identity and aesthetics for diasporan artists. His work evolved from figurative to abstract painting, with his Guggenheim Fellowship in 1978 being a pivotal moment. Branch’s career trajectory mirrors significant global cultural movements, and his continued relevance today reflects both the timelessness and evolving nature of his work.
Conclusion 🎯
In conclusion, the investment in Winston Branch's artwork offers a promising opportunity. With a competitive purchase price and strong potential for value appreciation, Branch’s increasing recognition in prestigious institutions and galleries suggests rising demand. A conservative approach anticipates value growth in line with inflation, while more ambitious scenarios project significant returns based on his recent market performance. His upcoming retrospective at Tate Britain and representation by a major gallery in 2025 further enhance the appeal of this investment, positioning it as both financially and culturally rewarding.
To ensure the competitiveness of the investment, we conducted a thorough verification of the purchase price by analyzing recent gallery transactions. Our analysis confirmed that the price offered, inclusive of all associated fees, is highly competitive. To estimate the potential ROI, we used the annualized return of his paintings over the past five years. For our conservative scenario, we assumed the value of the painting would grow at the rate of Swiss inflation, reflecting a defensive approach. In the balanced scenario, we assume a 50% probability of realizing a 28.4% (CAGR of the past 5 years) annual return for the next 4 years. Finally, in the ambitious scenario, we assume a 80% probability of realizing a 28.4% (CAGR of the past 5 years) annual return for the next 4 years. These potential returns over the next four years, under both the balanced and ambitious scenarios, are further enhanced by the 39% discount at which this beautiful work is offered compared to the current gallery price for similar-sized paintings created in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Exit Options at Maturity 🚪
We will manage the exit strategy in collaboration with our expert M&A Arts on behalf of our investors, ensuring the best possible outcome based on market conditions at the time. Depending on the prevailing market situation, the painting will be sold to a private collector or offered at an auction for contemporary art. An auction is considered if the price has developed to the point where the minimum bid matches the market value and there is high demand for works by the artist. Both options are carefully considered, and we will choose the one that maximizes the return for our investors.
Why Invest in This Category? 🎨
For centuries, art was collected for its cultural, emotional, intellectual, political, and economic value. Investing in a mid-career artist offers a mix of financial potential and personal satisfaction, making it an appealing option for both new and seasoned collectors.
Why Invest in This Asset? 💎
Despite exhibiting his work consistently for 60 years, Winston Branch remains, paradoxically, an artist whose work deserves greater levels of exposure and appreciation. Although underrepresented until 2017, when the London-based Varvara Roza Galleries began representing him exclusively, interest in Branch’s work has been steadily growing, and his momentum is just beginning. This is evident from recent quality solo and group exhibitions. After establishing the artist's presence in museums and institutions during the first three years of their partnership, Varvara Roza Galleries collaborated with others to organize three notable solo exhibitions in London: one in 2022 with Simon Lee Gallery and two in 2023 with Cedric Bardawil Gallery and the Blender Gallery. Additionally, in 2023 Sotheby's London featured a solo show of Branch’s works from 1982 to 2006, and in 2024, one of his paintings was selected for the 60th Venice Biennale. A retrospective at Tate Britain, one of the most important museums in the UK and the world, is also scheduled for May 2025. In January 2025, the artist will announce his representation by one of the largest and most prestigious galleries in the world, a move expected to enhance his international market presence, particularly among institutional collectors, and drive up prices. The announcement will be followed by a solo show scheduled for around October 2025.
Description about this asset 🖼️
Winston Branch is a prominent British Postwar and Contemporary painter. He was born in 1947 and raised in Castries, St Lucia (West Indies) until 1958 when his family, who recognized his talent, sent him to England to study art.
He attended the Slade School of Fine Art, where he studied under Frank Auerbach, and mingled with fellow rising stars such as David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, John Hoyland, and Patrick Procktor, and writer Robert Fraser. The Slade gave Branch an exceptional introduction to the art world. By the time he graduated, his work had been shown in notable British galleries, including the Art Lab in Drury Lane, the Crypt of St Martins-in-the-Fields, and the Round House. Internationally, his paintings were exhibited in Algeria and Belgium, and at the Pan African Cultural Festival in 1969. In 1971 he had a solo show in São Paolo, Brazil, which Branch calls the “second most important venue in the world for contemporary painting.” Branch was also a member of the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) (1966–72), a collective of diasporan artists aimed at celebrating a shared sense of Caribbean nationhood, exchanging ideas, and forging a new Caribbean aesthetic in the arts.
It was an exciting moment to be an artist in London, a time marked by radical social change, rebellion and artistic experimentation.
Shortly before graduating in 1970, Branch was also awarded the prestigious Prix de Rome, a two-year scholarship to the British School at Rome, but he found Rome too provincial and returned to the vibrant atmosphere of London in 1972, where he began teaching at Goldsmiths College. Once he felt he had gained the necessary recognition, Branch moved to Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he served as Artist-in-Residence. He then relocated to New York in 1973. His two-year stay in the city culminated with a successful show at the Terry Dintenfass Gallery.
Branch returned to London and, in 1976 was invited to spend a year in Berlin as part of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), a prestigious program that invites internationally renowned artists to Berlin to work and contribute to the city’s cultural life. His work was collected by the British ambassador, his son, and Her Britannic Majesty’s Military Government in Berlin.
He represented Great Britain at FESTAC 77 in Lagos, Nigeria – an influential and historically significant festival of arts, music, dance, literature and culture that some regard as a turning point in the development of a black global consciousness.
In 1978, Branch was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and moved back to New York, where the award brought him instant recognition. However, the pressure became overwhelming, and he returned to London in 1985.
In 1986 he joined the Caribbean Express, an art show on a train that traveled across England, showcasing West Indian paintings, literature and music. Shortly after, Branch reconnected with St Lucia, where he was invited to contribute to Project Helen, the St Lucia National Trust program aimed at building a national art collection. While St Lucia turned out to be an excellent environment for painting, Branch found the Caribbean market small and underdeveloped. The total abstraction of his work was often misinterpreted. To continue selling his work, he maintained strong connections with London.
In the early 2000s, Branch held several exhibitions at the Alliance Française in San Francisco and Los Angeles, the Oakland Museum of California, the Berkeley Art Museum, as well as in Argentina and the Dominican Republic.
More recently, he was honored with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018 and received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Greenwich, London, in 2020. Alongside his artist career, Branch taught fine arts at several institutions in both London and the U.S., including the University of California, Berkeley in 1998 and Kansas State University in 2000. He also worked as a theatrical designer for various theater groups.
In 2018, Tate Britain acquired one of his paintings, Zachary II (1982). The museum will organize a retrospective exhibition in May 2025 featuring this work along with 10 other abstract paintings from the same series, all completed in 1982. This will be a significant event for the artist.
At 77, Branch, who has lived and exhibited internationally for six decades, continues to paint every day. On October 18, 2024, he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire during an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace; an honor that recognizes services to the creative and fine arts.
Branch’s paintings are in several public and private collections, including Tate Britain (London, UK), the British Museum (London, UK), Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK), The Arts Council of Great Britain (London, UK), Rugby Art Gallery and Museum (Rugby, UK), The Museum of Modern Art (Sāo Paolo, Brazil), The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (New York, USA), The Brooklyn Museum (New York, USA), The Legion of Honor and de Young Museum (San Francisco, USA), The St Louis Art Museum (Missouri, USA), The Crocker Art Museum (Sacramento, USA), The Berkeley Art Museum (Berkeley, California), The Hamburger Kunsthalle Museum (Hamburg, Germany) and Saint Lucia National Trust (Saint Lucia, West Indies).
Branch has exhibited his work consistently since the 1960s, He has exhibited paintings and works on paper in over 25 solo shows, and over 75 group shows.
Selected Solo Shows:
- 2025: A solo show at this soon-to-be announced prominent gallery is planned for October
- 2025: A retrospective exhibition at Tate Britain, London, UK – Upcoming: May
- 2023: “The Sweet Scent of Magnolia”, The Blender Gallery and Varvara Roza Galleries, London, UK
- 2023: “Winston Branch: Journey into Light”, Sotheby’s , London, UK
- 2023: “Fragments of Light”, Cedric Bardawil Gallery and Varvara Roza Galleries, London, UK
- 2022: “Winston Branch: Jasmines Blowing in the Wind”, Simon Lee Gallery and Varvara Roza Galleries, London, UK
Selected Group Shows:
- 2024: “In Praise of Black Errantry” – 60th Venice Biennale, Unit Gallery, Venice, Italy
- 2023: “Summer Exhibition”, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
- 2023: “Art Basel 2023”, Simon Lee Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
- 2022: “Sixty Years: The Unfinished Conversation”, Tate Britain, London, UK
- 2022: “Art Basel Miami 2022”, Simon Lee Gallery, Miami, USA
- 2022: “Althea McNish: Color is Mine”, Whitworth Gallery, Manchester, UK
- 2018: “London Art Fair”, Art UK Project, London, UK
- 2015: “No Color Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990”, Guildhall Art Gallery, London , UK
Branch's works are primarily in acrylics. He creates richly colored planes of paint that evoke a hazy atmosphere. Paint is splattered, flicked, or spread in a frenzy of electric color or earthy tones. It is layered to create depths that are then highlighted in equal measure to form landscapes of paints that extend both across and deep into the canvas. Forms occasionally merge into something figurative.
Art critic Carlos Diaz Sosa describes his paintings as “abstract canvases in cool, cloudy colors that have a quality which allow the viewer to explore the depths of the mind. Branch uses paint like a symbol, a purely aesthetic language, an illustration of spirit.”
Context in Time ⏳
Winston Branch's artistic career developed during a period of profound change, both in the art world and in global society. Born in 1947 in St. Lucia, Branch's formative years coincided with the postwar era, a time marked by social and cultural transformations. His move to England in the late 1950s and his studies at the Slade School of Fine Art placed him in the heart of a dynamic artistic community in London during the 1960s, a time of rebellion, experimentation, and radical shifts in art. Branch's involvement with the Caribbean Artists Movement (CAM) from 1966 to 1972 reflects a broader effort to redefine identity and aesthetics for diasporan artists. His work evolved from figurative to abstract painting, with his Guggenheim Fellowship in 1978 being a pivotal moment. Branch’s career trajectory mirrors significant global cultural movements, and his continued relevance today reflects both the timelessness and evolving nature of his work.
Conclusion 🎯
In conclusion, the investment in Winston Branch's artwork offers a promising opportunity. With a competitive purchase price and strong potential for value appreciation, Branch’s increasing recognition in prestigious institutions and galleries suggests rising demand. A conservative approach anticipates value growth in line with inflation, while more ambitious scenarios project significant returns based on his recent market performance. His upcoming retrospective at Tate Britain and representation by a major gallery in 2025 further enhance the appeal of this investment, positioning it as both financially and culturally rewarding.
Expert
M&A Arts Sàrl
M&A Arts represents the leading edge in art and finance, spearheaded by Asher Edelman, the renowned investor and art collector. With an unparalleled experience and extensive relationships in the art world, M&A Arts offers deep knowledge and expertise in the financial aspects of the art market.
Additional details
Asset ID
6111e1cd-2b33-4d5b-8498-ccb117552904
Name
Untitled
Artist
Winston Branch
Publication year
1997
Size
121 x 85 cm
Number of editions
Unique
Signature
Yes, the painting is signed and dated on the reverse
Material
Acrylic on canvas
