Boasting 7,000 years of artwork historical past and requiring nearly as many steps to traverse its aisles, The European Fantastic Artwork Truthful (Tefaf) in Maastricht is much 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 to be constructing its future by means of consolidation and refinement.
The outcomes early on appear to strengthen the knowledge of this strategy. Regardless of the backdrop of unease created by macro-economic uncertainty, the continued struggle in Ukraine, an tried armed theft right here in 2022 and pre-fair rumblings of Extinction Rebel’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 have been considerably larger on the primary preview day, and among the many early guests have been quite a few worldwide personal collectors, together with over 50 museum teams,” says Will Korner, the top of gala’s for Tefaf, of the occasion’s invitation-only opening on 7 March.
“It is good to see Tefaf buzzy once more. We now have seen lots of the common collectors, but additionally new faces,” stated 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 provide on the stand of the New Orleans-based gallery M.S. Rau at Tefaf Maastricht’s 2024 version
Photograph 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 fame because the pre-eminent truthful for pre-Twentieth century artwork, objects and furnishings. And though the public sale marketplace for Previous Masters is probably not in its prime, prime examples of the class proceed to be delivered to 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), exhibiting at Dickinson gallery with a £4.5m asking worth, and Giambologna’s Striding Mars (1580), which was offered by Stuart Lochhead Sculpture to “a serious US museum” for $4m early on, in response to 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 Fantastic Arts for $90,000, as effectively.)
Additionally attracting consideration was a set of works by Edvard Munch on show by David Tunick. A non-public collector had beforehand purchased the items from Tunick over a 25-year interval, however they have 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) offered “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 worth of €4.5m.
In step 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 provide for €3m from Zebregs & Roell Fantastic Artwork and Antiques, was supported by the Girls of the Rijksmuseum Fund. Robilant + Voena gallery can 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.
Photograph 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 offered 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 usually heat, as effectively. A placing show of 9 of the 100 sculptural black chairs created by Italian designer Paolo Pallucco within the Nineties demonstrated the worth of concentrated curatorial house, and it additionally fortified the truthful’s worth to sellers who concentrate on 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,” stated Charlotte Ketabi-Lebard of the gallery. Eight of the chairs had offered 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 resolution to scale back the size of the truthful. “There are combined emotions, however personally I’m relieved it’s taking place, as there does appear to be a bent for folks to simply deal with it like a museum [when running for longer]. This brings the main target again to commerce,” stated 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 (Nineteen 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 have 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 it will likely be fascinating to see how the shorter date span works out,” says Marc Fecker of Didier Aaron. Fecker says the gallery offered “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 have been paying off. “There have been younger collectors on the preview days—not simply the younger curators however younger personal collectors. And so they have been participating 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, just isn’t whether or not modifications shall be made to the truthful, however whether or not the tempo of change will align effectively sufficient with that of the broader shifts out there. Thus far, so good.
Tefaf Maastricht, till 14 March, MECC Maastricht, The Netherlands
