TEFAF defies global turmoil and goes all out to host Maastricht edition

Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in On Balance, art news Newsletter about the art market and beyond. Register here Receive it every Wednesday.

David Tunick, a New York dealer in Old Master prints and paintings, recently timed his attendance at the TEFAF art fair at the Maastricht Exhibition and Conference Center in the Netherlands, about two hours’ drive from Amsterdam. TEFAF is known as one of the top events of its kind in the world due to its highly regarded selection and vetting process.

“I’m just entering my 60th year in the arts industry and my 26th year working at TEFAF for two weeks or more, so I’ve spent a full year here,” Tunick added, “which is always an honor and a privilege.”

Founded in 1988 and organized by the European Fine Arts Foundation (which also started organizing in New York in 2016), this year’s show attracted 276 dealers from 24 countries and displayed treasures from more than 7,000 years of art history. Unlike most trade shows, TEFAF Maastricht lasted a full six days and dealers noted that visitor numbers did not decrease. The large floral displays and oyster shucking at VIP previews are legendary and trustees of top museums are always in attendance.

But while the fair has been ongoing, some collectors may have found their plans disrupted late last month when the United States launched its latest war of choice in Iran. Dealers were divided as to whether the war would harm the show in any way. Nicholas Hall, a New York Old Masters dealer, said in an email that this had “little impact. In any case, Middle Eastern buying in paintings has been sporadic at best.” Landau Fine Art was founded in Montreal in 1987 and is now also established in Meaghan, Switzerland. The company’s Ben Evans is rather optimistic, saying: “We are certainly very concerned about this conflict, but there is still a lot of interest.”

Bill Rau, owner and CEO of MS Rau in New Orleans, is more worried. “I don’t think it’s sentiment or whether people are willing to sell goods that hurts the show,” he said in a phone interview from Maastricht last week, as Iran was attacking the United Arab Emirates with drones and missiles.

“This will have an impact on logistics,” he continued. “Dubai Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. It’s closed. Anyone from the Middle East, if they’re not already in Europe, won’t come. And if someone comes from Japan, they’ll probably fly through Dubai or Abu Dhabi. Last year we sold a Monet to a gentleman from Dubai, and I don’t know if he’s going to come. I don’t think the Louvre Abu Dhabi is coming.”

Will Korner, head of TEFAF exhibitions, noted in an emailed statement, “The international art market is accustomed to responding to periods of global uncertainty and has historically shown resilience even in times of geopolitical tension. Of course, we recognize the seriousness of the situation and the wider uncertainty it creates. However, at this stage, we remain confident and do not see any clear signs of a slowdown in market activity.”

He added, for the record, that “a team from Louvre Abu Dhabi has confirmed that it will be participating in the fair.” As of Tuesday, Dubai’s airport had reopened.

And when they do, they’ll have plenty to see. A few days before the fair’s public opening, Tunick excitedly told me about some of the works he would be offering at the fair, which he likened to “a museum for sale.”

“We are showing a Modigliani work that I have been following since I first saw it on the cover of a Sotheby’s auction catalog in 1972,” he said. “I couldn’t afford it at the time, but recently I managed to meet with the owners and told them, ‘You might have something I’ve been wanting for 50 years.'” The price for the piece is in the mid-seven figures.

He also brought Degas’s 1857 self-portrait, which combines dry painting, etching and hand-painted ink. “While it was far from the most expensive piece in the booth,” he said, “it was one of the most beautiful pieces of art we ever had.” That piece sold for somewhere in the mid-six figures.

Hall, a New York Old Masters dealer, was full of praise for the show. “TEFAF is a must-attendance as it is undoubtedly the most important fair in the world for paintings, drawings, sculptures, furniture and decorative arts before 1914,” he tells us art news in an email. “Dealers have prepared some of the most interesting finds of the year for this event. The display is fun and imaginative as dealers compete for collectors’ attention, and the visual spectacle is worth the visit in itself.”

Highlights of the Hall’s exhibition include works by French genre painter Louis-Léopold Boilly (the painting has not been seen for more than a century); Baroque French landscape painter Claude Laurent; 19th-century German realist painter Adolf Menzel; and Baroque painter Salvator Rosa (the artist’s only known work in bronze). The work of Bernardo Daddi is particularly striking Madonna and Son crowned with Saints Peter and Paul, Saint Zenobius, bishop saints and six angels (1335-37), which the dealer called “a unique relic of 14th-century Florence.” The gold-framed piece is only two and a half feet tall and is likely to evoke an ecclesiastical setting in a private home. The panels surrounding the central scene were probably painted by the Master of Mercy, Giovanni Gaddi. The work sold for $6 million, making it one of the most expensive works ever sold at auction. (Some dealers share prices with foundations, others do not.)

Evans of long-time exhibitor Landau Fine Art tells us art news “For us, TEFAF remains the greatest art fair in the world, with the richest collection of outstanding artistic quality from the widest range of human history and expression. It brings together leading galleries, dealers and experts in every field, the highest concentration of any antiques fair you can attend,” the call said.

Landau brought paintings and sculptures by Italian artist Marino Marini; paintings and sculptures by Spanish artist Juan Miró; and works by American Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein.

The Louisiana dealer also hawks works by French Impressionists Berte Morisot and Claude Monet, but he said he’s probably most interested in paintings by Fauvist Henri Matisse. “We posted it on our email list a week ago,” he said, “and we’ve had requests to borrow it from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Van Gogh Museum and the Musée d’Orsay.” But Rau’s items aren’t all seven-figure items; the gallery’s collection sells for as low as $20,000.

MS Rau of New Orleans is exhibiting for the third year in a row, but owner and CEO Bill Rau has been in attendance for a long time. He is exhibiting what he calls a “hugely important” work by French Impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. cherry first (c. 1884), less than two feet tall, shows Renoir’s future wife Aline Charigot, who appears in many of his other works, wearing the eponymous hat decorated with cherries. “She was his favorite muse and this was done at the height of his talent,” Law said. It’s listed for just under $9.9 million. Only a dozen Renoir works have sold for more than that, according to art analytics firm ARTDAI.