Boasting 7,000 years of artwork historical past and requiring virtually as many steps to traverse its aisles, The European High quality Artwork Truthful (Tefaf) in Maastricht is way from downsizing. However with the truthful’s thirty seventh version (till 14 March) shortened by three days in contrast with its predecessors, and that includes a brand new Focus part enabling galleries to delve deeper into single-artist displays, the occasion seems to be constructing its future by consolidation and refinement.
The outcomes early on appear to bolster the knowledge of this method. Regardless of the backdrop of unease created by macro-economic uncertainty, the continued warfare in Ukraine, an tried armed theft right here in 2022 and pre-fair rumblings of Extinction Revolt’s distaste at collectors travelling to Maastricht by air, a welcome sense of normality and joviality permeated the truthful’s opening days.
“Our customer numbers had been considerably larger on the primary preview day, and among the many early guests had been quite a few worldwide personal collectors, together with over 50 museum teams,” says Will Korner, the pinnacle of gala’s for Tefaf, of the occasion’s invitation-only opening on 7 March.
“It is good to see Tefaf buzzy once more. Now we have seen lots of the common collectors, but in addition new faces,” mentioned Bernard Shapero of Shapero Uncommon Books, which was providing an early Qu’ran folio from the mid-Seventh century on its stand for £850,000.
Vincent van Gogh’s Tête de paysanne à la coiffe blanche (head of a peasant lady with a white cap), which was painted round 1884, was on supply on the stand of the New Orleans-based gallery M.S. Rau at Tefaf Maastricht’s 2024 version
Picture by David Owens. Courtesy of M.S. Rau and Tefaf
Prime examples
The 270 sellers from 22 international locations exhibiting this yr convincingly upheld Tefaf Maastricht’s popularity because the pre-eminent truthful for pre-Twentieth century artwork, objects and furnishings. And though the public sale marketplace for Previous Masters will not be in its prime, prime examples of the class proceed to be dropped at the truthful—and to search out an keen viewers right here.
This yr’s highlights embrace Anthony van Dyck’s Portrait of a Carmelite Monk (1618), displaying at Dickinson gallery with a £4.5m asking value, and Giambologna’s Striding Mars (1580), which was bought by Stuart Lochhead Sculpture to “a significant US museum” for $4m early on, in accordance with a Tefaf spokesperson. (Lochhead positioned a terra cotta work by Joseph Chinard, a French sculptor lively earlier than and after the flip of the nineteenth century, to the Virginia Museum of High quality Arts for $90,000, as nicely.)
Additionally attracting consideration was a group of works by Edvard Munch on show by David Tunick. A personal collector had beforehand purchased the items from Tunick over a 25-year interval, however they had been reunited on the gallery’s stand at Tefaf—till one of many group, a lithograph of Madonna (from a sequence printed between 1902 and 1912-14) bought “on the opening bell, for a six-figure sum”, Tunick says. One other crowd magnet was Vincent van Gogh’s Tête de paysanne à la coiffe blanche (head of a peasant lady with a white cap), painted round 1884 and being proven by the New Orleans-based gallery M.S. Rau with a value of €4.5m.
Consistent with a spate of sturdy public sale outcomes of late, works by feminine Previous Masters drew critical curiosity, too. The Rijksmuseum promptly purchased the Seventeenth-century Dutch artist Gesina ter Borch’s Portrait of Moses ter Borch as a two-year-old (dated 1647, though it’s believed to have been accomplished 20 years later, on the event of the loss of life of the topic, her brother); the acquisition of the portray, which was on supply for €3m from Zebregs & Roell High quality Artwork and Antiques, was supported by the Girls of the Rijksmuseum Fund. Robilant + Voena gallery can also be that includes The Penitent Magdalene (round 1625-30) by Artemisia Gentileschi, priced at $7m.
The Galleria Continua stand on the 2024 version of Tefaf Maastricht.
Picture by Jitske Nap. Courtesy of Tefaf
Instructions for the long run
Stands all through the premises finessed the presentation of a number of genres and classes collectively. As an example, the UK-based dealership Thomas Coulborn & Sons bought a Chinese language export carved Huang Huali armchair (round 1740) for an undisclosed quantity, after putting in it convincingly alongside Regency and Baroque furnishings.
The response to the brand new Focus part was typically heat, as nicely. A placing show of 9 of the 100 sculptural black chairs created by Italian designer Paolo Pallucco within the Nineteen Nineties demonstrated the worth of concentrated curatorial area, and it additionally fortified the truthful’s worth to sellers who specialize in extra modern works. “We’ve proven at design and modern artwork gala’s earlier than, however Tefaf has actually launched us to completely different collectors,” mentioned Charlotte Ketabi-Lebard of the gallery. Eight of the chairs had bought by Friday, for costs between €10,000 and €20,000 every; the gallery confirmed one went to a “well-known Belgian collector of African artwork”.
The jury was nonetheless out, nonetheless, on the organiser’s choice to scale back the size of the truthful. “There are combined emotions, however personally I’m relieved it’s occurring, as there does appear to be a bent for individuals to simply deal with it like a museum [when running for longer]. This brings the main focus again to commerce,” mentioned Shubha Taparia of London’s Prahlad Bubbar gallery, which positioned two works with a “main” American museum for an undisclosed quantity on the truthful’s opening day: A view of Shalimar Bagh, attributed to Mihr Chand (round 1780), and a gelatin silver print of The Maharani of Indore (Thirties).
A view of Shalimar Bagh, a leaf from an album made for Antoine Polier, attributed to Mihr Chand with calligraphy by Hafiz Nur Ullah (round 1780), was positioned by Prahlad Bubbar gallery of London early at Tefaf Maastricht in 2024
Courtesy of Prahlad Bubbar
Different sellers had been extra sceptical of the truthful’s scaled-back period. “Beforehand, we’ve made main gross sales on the second weekend of the truthful, so will probably be attention-grabbing to see how the shorter date span works out,” says Marc Fecker of Didier Aaron. Fecker says the gallery bought “a number of” items on the truthful’s opening day, together with a Sixteenth-century oak carving of Saint Ursula attributed to the workshop of Jan II Borman.
There have been additionally early indicators that Tefaf’s efforts to welcome new generations of patrons had been paying off. “There have been younger collectors on the preview days—not simply the younger curators however younger personal collectors. And so they had been partaking not solely within the extra modern artwork however in Previous Masters, design, Asian artwork and antiquities, prints and works on paper,” says Megan Fox Kelly, the New York-based artwork adviser.
The query, then, isn’t whether or not modifications might be made to the truthful, however whether or not the tempo of change will align nicely sufficient with that of the broader shifts available in the market. To this point, so good.
Tefaf Maastricht, till 14 March, MECC Maastricht, The Netherlands
