History

Founded in 1985 by a committee of eight print dealers, the London Original Print Fair originally took place in the old Diploma Galleries at the Royal Academy of Arts with just 16 exhibitors. The founding President of the Royal Academy, Sir Joshua Reynolds, was himself a print collector with prints by Dürer and Rembrandt in his collection.

Over more than three decades at the RA, the Fair grew in size and stature, celebrating its 34th (and last) event there in 2019 with 48 exhibitors. In the following spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to cancel the Fair just weeks before it was scheduled to open. With art galleries and institutions worldwide closing their doors we took the Fair online for the first time in its history. We were one of the first to take our event totally online, and built the first ever art fair to be hosted on the Artlogic web platform. We created individual viewing rooms for all 48 of our exhibitors, and LOPF Online: The Platform for Prints was born. This digital version of the Fair has now grown to represent over 80 print dealers and publishers worldwide and remains active all year round.

In 2021 we were delighted to relocate to the elegant galleries of Somerset House in the Strand, London - coincidentally the first London home of the Royal Academy of Arts - marking a fresh start and a brand new era for the Fair.