To mark Hungary’s assumption of the European Union Council Presidency from July 1 to Dec. 31, the Hungarian Embassy organized a cultural opening program at the Ankara Painting and Sculpture Museum on Sunday, July 7.

This year also coincides with the 2024 Hungarian-Turkish Cultural Year, allowing for an extensive cultural event.

The program featured the opening of the painting exhibition “Clear Skies, Stormy Times” from the private collection of Gabor Kovacs. The event was attended by Hungarian Ambassador Viktor Matis, chairperson of the Turkish Parliament’s EU Harmonization Committee Burhan Kayatürk, Deputy Undersecretary of the Hungarian Ministry of Culture and Innovation Gabor Csaba, Deputy Director General of Fine Arts from the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism Erkan Tarhan, members of diplomatic missions and numerous art enthusiasts from Ankara.

The exhibition at the Painting and Sculpture Museum until Aug. 26 showcases a selection of paintings by 19th – and 20th-century Hungarian artists.

During the opening, notable speeches were given by leading Hungarian collector and supporter of Hungarian culture, Gabor Kovacs. In his speech, he highlighted the general objectives of Hungary’s EU Presidency, which include enhancing global economic connections, competitiveness, agricultural policy, EU enlargement policy, combating illegal migration, defense policy and addressing demographic challenges. Ambassador Viktor Matis emphasized their focus on facilitating dialogue between Türkiye and the EU during the six-month presidency, supporting high-level dialogues, updating the Customs Union and promoting visa liberalization.

The second part of the cultural opening program featured a stellar gala performance by operetta, dance and orchestra artists from the Budapest Operetta Theatre, celebrating its 100th anniversary. The performance, held under the Bozkurt statue in the Turkish Hearth Hall of the Painting and Sculpture Museum, received great applause from Ankara’s art lovers.

Sammlung Boros

EIGEN + ART

KW Institute for Contemporary Art

König Galerie

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Galerie Max Hetzler

Capitain Petzel

Berlinische Galerie

Hamburger Bahnhof

KINDL – Centre for Contemporary Art

Fiducia, a specialty insurance managing general agent (MGA) has announced the appointment of a new senior development underwriter, Mike Hall, to its marine cargo, freight liability and fine art and specie facilities to support UK and European brokers.

Joining from Zurich Insurance, Hall brings to his new role 26 years of underwriting experience within the marine and cargo insurance sector.

The executive was part of Zurich for 16 years, becoming head of marine in 2020. In this role, Hall led the UK underwriting team and was responsible for profit and loss management across the cargo, fine art and specie and UK regional marine portfolios.

Prior to Zurich, Hall held roles at CNA Insurance and RSA.

Gerry Sheehy, Fiducia CEO, said: “Mike has a strong underwriting record and is a fantastic addition to our team. He has a very personable and professional approach to his work, which perfectly aligns to the ‘can-do’ attitude we have at Fiducia and will be a significant asset to support our partner broker relationships.

“Marine cargo and freight continues to face a range of risks, and it is essential that our partner brokers have access to expert underwriters who can develop policies which best meet their clients’ challenges.

“Mike’s appointment will significantly boost our underwriting capabilities alongside ensuring we continue to cement our market-leading position.”

Commenting on his appointment, Hell said: “Fiducia’s client-first approach makes it stand out within the specialised insurance marketplace. The business has established a reputation for positive service, competitive pricing and empowered, knowledgeable underwriters.

“It’s great to be joining the highly regarded marine cargo and freight team and I look forward to working with them and supporting its growing client list and broker base.”

Last year, the company made its cargo products available on the Acturis online insurance platform, which gives partner brokers direct access to Fiducia’s underwriters.

The Dutch police have announced the recovery of two diamonds following a shocking heist at one of Europe’s most prestigious art fairs, TEFAF Maastricht, in 2022. The suspected perpetrators are still on the loose but authorities have revealed that, as well as four men who fled the scene of the crime, they are now searching for one woman suspect and are investigating two other women.

Furthermore, the police had previously announced that the suspects were from the Balkans. They now have strong evidence to narrow this down to Serbia, where they may now be in hiding.

“We have taken major and important steps in the investigation,” the police told NL Times. “The international component of this investigation makes that everything takes a long time because we have to follow international procedures and regulations.”

Un casse à la Tefaf Maastricht en pleine journée : des vitrines d’un stand de bijoux fracassé à la masse, deux truands menaçant avec des armes pour protéger leur complice. Ils se sont enfuis par le restaurant… pic.twitter.com/qY4ounavdf

— La Tribune de l’Art (@ltdla) June 28, 2022

The art world was left reeling on June 30, 2022 when the calm and rarefied atmosphere of TEFAF, which exudes a mix of elegance and affluence, was quite literally shattered by a troupe of mallet-wielding thieves. Four armed men had somehow gained entry into the fair and began smashing the glass protective case on the booth of Symbolic & Chase from London.

More amazingly still, the group managed to flee the scene with 10 pieces of swag worth tens of millions of dollars, Dutch authorities estimate. The most valuable item was a necklace containing a 114-carat diamond valued at €27 million ($29 million), although this figure has been contested.

According to an online update by the local Politie Limburg, the recovered jewels were from this necklace. One was found in Israel while the other was tracked down in Hong Kong. A third jewel had previously been found in March 2023. None of these was the prized yellow diamond.

Soon after the incident, the local police announced that they were looking for four male suspects. They are also looking for one woman who is suspected of being an accomplice after camera footage records showed her seated inside a rental car with some of the male suspects.

Another two women are being investigated after it was found that they returned one of the getaway cars that had been rented by the criminals to a car rental company near Frankfurt airport in Germany.

Since 2023, the insurance company’s investigation agency Charles Taylor Adjusting has been offering a £500,000 ($534,495) reward for information that leads to the return of the jewels. The Limburg district court public prosecutor’s office is now also offering €20,000 for information that leads to the identification of the thieves. The relevant contact details are listed online.

A spokesperson for TEFAF declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation.

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Ana Khouri

A necklace by Ana Khouri with an ‘east-west’ set 21-carat natural diamond set in an 18kt ‘Raw Gold’ collar was shown at 2024 TEFAF. Recently worn by Chloe Sevigny at the 2024 Met Gala.

The Phillipa ear cuff by Ana Khouri, worn by Hailey Bieber at the 2023 Vanity Fair Oscar’s after-party, is fully set with natural colorless pave-set diamonds totaling 3.20 carats and a dangling 1.78-carat colorless pear-shaped diamond, all mounted in 18-karat white gold.

Boghossian

A ring by Boghossian in their signature ‘kissing’ style with one natural, fancy intense Orangy Pink radiant-cut diamond set over a hexagonal-shaped diamond using the ‘Kissing’ technique, surrounded by two triangular-shaped diamonds, on a ring with small pink brilliant diamonds.

One-of-a-kind earrings by Boghossian featuring a mesmerizing array of natural pastel-colour fancy-shaped diamonds. Each diamond has a radiant spectrum of hues, from vivid yellows to light blues, creating a captivating rainbow effect. Two central magnificent fancy green-blue pear-shaped diamonds are embraced by a line of trapezoid-shaped diamonds. Each earring is then topped by a bouquet of additional natural multi-colored diamonds.

FD Gallery

A contemporary diamond ring by FD Gallery with an 8.78-carat antique old European cut diamond set in rich yellow hammered gold. 

Contemporary diamond earrings by FD Gallery feature two antique old mine-cut diamonds, 9.78 carats, and 10.15 carats, collet set on wire ear pendants in silver topped with old.

Hemmerle

This Hemmerle diamond necklace is set with over 3700 matched natural gray diamonds in hollowed silver. Just over 289 carats of diamonds in total.

This Hemmerle diamond ring is set with an antique cushion-cut natural diamond weighing over 13 carats. The black iron mounting gift wraps the diamond, while the gold interior sits on the finger.

Otto Jakob

Earrings by Otto Jakob set with drop-shaped rose-cut diamonds and yellow gold scrolls forming an inverted stylized pine cone. The cone is topped with a chainmail-like column composed of a multitude of flexibly connected elements made of yellow and white gold and rose-cut diamonds. The column is set with micro pavé and tiny rose-cut diamonds and embellished with black vitreous enamel and painted gold.

A ring by Otto Jakob entirely hand-modeled in wax and cast in a lost-wax process to allow an untreated gold cast surface. The ring is set with an 8.27-carat oval diamond, inspired by the cuts prevalent at the end of the 19th century.

SABBA

A bracelet by SABBA Paris with three natural light yellow diamonds of 9.30, 10.89, and 9.58 carats, and 14.60 carats of smaller diamonds surrounding and down the sides. All are mounted in titanium and 18k gold. 

A bracelet by SABBA Paris with a single fancy Intense yellow cushion cut diamond of 36.09 carats mounted in maroon colored titanium and 18k Gold in an ‘urchin’ like design. 

From antiquity to living masters, the little sibling of TEFAF-Maastricht, Europe’s defining celebration of fine art, antiquities, and jewelry, is the only New York fair to offer a comprehensive art historical journey that draws A-list celebrities, collectors, institutions, and discerning aesthetes. The Maastricht presentations have embraced more Modern and Contemporary art in recent years, and newer works take center stage in New York.

The 10th U.S. edition of The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) opened to ticket holders today and is on view through May 14 at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. At $55 ($25 for students) for one-day entry, TEFAF offers the best value, showcasing museum-quality art and radiating enchantment that transports us away from daily drudgery and geopolitical horror. The well-heeled crowd last night underscores its position as the best art fair in the U.S. It’s my Met Gala.

The space, built in 1861 for the first volunteer militia to respond to President Lincoln’s call for troops, transforms into an elegant arena for art-gazing adorned with floral displays that act as art themselves, especially complementing works such as Ukrainian artist Aljoscha’s Phylogenetic Utopias – Bioism Engineering of the Ethical Bliss (2024), presented by Beck & Eggeling International Fine Art of Düsseldorf, Germany. Like an arrangement of cut flowers, the large-scale conceptual sculpture, composed of 36 elements created with partly-pigmented poly(methyl acrylate) or PMA, colorless, organic polymers, commonly used in leather finishing and textiles, conveys the co-existence of fragility and ferocity.

While New York is inarguably the world art capital, with an abundance of galleries, museums, and auction previews to sate all tastes, there is a nimiety of art fairs, too often mimicking the 1980s retail suburban shopping experience but made tedious to accommodate the appetite of an increasingly feigned existence where gratification is instant and fleeting. TEFAF is the antidote for an ailing world where image and conformity surpasses imagery and ingenuity.

My practice each year has been to make multiple rounds of the stands, taking note of what stirs emotion, and devising a theme that inspires me across an array of works. Yesterday, I was drawn deeply into art that embodies various interpretations of myth, allegory, and other re-imaginings of human existence.

We accompany Salvador Dalí on his self-referential voyage in Alegoría Al Mar, (Allegory of the Sea) painted 13 years before his death at age 84 in 1989, presented by Di Donna of New York. We embark on the upper canvas, where our eyes feast on two yellow lobsters, reminding us of Aphrodisiac Telephone (1938), conjuring Dalí’s repeated analogy between sex and food. The bare branches of a wishbone-like tree of a life with a heart shape in its roots pierces the lobsters, as its trunk overlaps a rectangular sea with quartz crystal-like waves while a naked man dives to grasp the hands of a mermaid. The rectangular symbolism reminds us of adolescent subversion of the male gaze in Dalí’s Woman at the Window (1925), which may have been influenced by Caspar David Friedrich’s rückenfigur (German for “figure from the back”), Woman at a Window (1822).

Our eyes wander back to the roots in the lower canvas to find a human figure walking toward the heart center. An abstracted figure that looks plucked from a line drawing appeared seated to the left, while a man on horseback trots toward center from the right, a homage to the 1964 Modern Library edition of The First Part of The Life and Achievements of Don Quixote De La Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, and illustrated by Dalí.

As we peer down the canvas, we encounter precious stones and rocks laid in a deliberate pattern at the tree base, a reminiscence of the exquisite and uncanny collection of 39 pieces of fine jewelry Dalí created between 1941 and 1970 as a tribute to his wife, collaborator, and muse Gala Dalí, who shared authorship of many artworks. In the context of this painting chronicling so many decades of the artist’s oeuvre, we also travel back to The Eye of Time, an eye-shaped brooch that a small watch with its face in the iris and

The platinum, diamond, ruby and blue enamel treasure with a mechanical Movado watch movement, crafted by Argentina-born jeweler Carlos Alemany, who ran a workshop in the St. Regis Hotel in New York. Viewing the composition as a whole, we recall shapes, colors, and compositions of earlier works Persistence of Memory (1931) and Diurnal Fantasies (1932).

Di Donna confirmed today that Alegoria al Mar and another Dalí it showed at the fair, L’oeil du peintre (1941), quickly sold to private collectors.

Childhood trauma of experiencing death is reborn as a new beginning in Berlin-based Osaka-born performance and installation artist Chiharu Shiota’s State of Being (Book) (2023), presented by Gana Art of Seoul, Korea. We feel the pulsations of the human vascular system in the sculpture made of a metal frame, pages of a German-language book, and thread that depicts arteries and veins that carry blood throughout the body. The work is must-see in the flesh, electrifying us with a sanguine melange of attraction and repulsion.

There are many works that deliberately feature myths, both traditionally like the Roman statuette of Minerva with her owl, a bronze statuette (circa 1st century AD) at the Charles Ede of London stall, and with a Contemporary elucidation, such as Claude Lalanne’s L’Enlèvement d’Europe (The Rape of Europa) (2007) patinated bronze, presented by Ben Brown Fine Arts of Venice, London, and Hong Kong. The two works are connected specifically through Jupiter.

Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom, medicine, the arts, poetry, handicrafts, and later, war, burst (fully armed and in full armor) from the head of Metis, who had been swallowed by Jupiter. Jupiter had sex with titaness Metis, causing her to shapeshift in an effort to escape him. Her pet owl connects her to her Greek complement, Athena, and the “owl of Athena” or the “owl of Minerva” grew into a ubiquitous Western symbol of knowledge, wisdom, perspicacity, and erudition.

The Rape of Europa myth has served as a creative force for centuries, most notably by an eponymous sixteenth century painting by Titan. In Greek and Roman mythology, Europa is abducted by the King of the gods (Zeus in Greece and Jupiter in Rome) in the form of a bull, and he carries her from her birthplace in Phoenicia to the island of Crete, where he rapes her and she gives birth to twins.

Many other works convey subtle or implied mythic narratives. We gaze into the eyes of a contemporary goddess, surveying Allen Jones Body Armour (Kate) (2013), an editioned photograph of supermodel Kate Moss wearing a glittery gold flake body cast sculpture the Pop artist made in 1978 for an unrealized film. Presented by Galleria d’Arte Maggiore – G.A.M. of Bologna, Italy, Venice, and Paris, the portrait of the ethereal beauty transcends time, evoking Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty, sex, fertility, and victory, who is heavily borrowed from the Greek Aphrodite, both likely descendants of Mesopotamian Ishtar, the goddess of love and battle.

Maintaining the goddess quest, we are invited by Mickalene Thomas’ NUS Exotiques #2 (2023) at the Galerie Nathalie Obadia stand. The staged photograph portrait embellished with acrylic, rhinestones, and enamel, amplifies otherwise-non-famous Black women, female beauty, sexuality, desire, and female power. The nude subject exposes her pert posterior, as a string of rhinestones mimics her heart-shaped buttocks. Smiling and at ease, he demands the viewer’s attention as she leans against a geometric cutout backdrop, as if caressing the wall. Thomas describes how her series of large-scale photographic collages of women, sometimes referencing art historical titans such as Picasso and Manet, “celebrates the beauty and power of Black women through the prism of popular culture and collective history, past and present.” The idea for the series emerged from Thomas’ study of Black female eroticism from Jet magazine, and its namesake, the 1950s French publication Nus Exotique.

If turbulence has taught the market anything over the past decade, it is the value of constants. And yet, even the most tradition-oriented art fairs need to keep things fresh. Now in its tenth edition, The European Fine Art Foundation’s (Tefaf) New York fair (until 14 May) has undergone a steady evolution on its way to establishing itself as the esteemed US cousin of its older counterpart in Maastricht, while at the same time differentiating itself as a brand on its own terms.

“Tefaf and the city of Maastricht have long held a magical place in the hearts of the intrepid collectors who make the journey,” says Will Korner, Tefaf’s head of fairs. “It’s an experience like no other. We believe the formula continues to work.”

Client base expansion

This year, visitors to Tefaf New York can expect to see top works from women artists, as well as lower-priced art in a new section that has younger buyers in mind. Off the back of the successful Emerging Collectors Program debuted at Tefaf Maastricht in March, the organiser of the New York edition will replicate that effort in an attempt to expand the event’s client base and develop new audiences.

The special sector, which is by invitation only, will offer works of art priced up to $50,000. A guest curator has tailored the programme with an educational bent intended to “attract and engage emerging collectors, guiding them towards connoisseurship”, according to a fair spokesperson.

“In terms of the age of collectors attending the New York City fair, it is probably younger than our European edition, with its position within the city’s broader programme and because of the way that wealth is spread here,” Korner tells The Art Newspaper. “We are developing new partnerships and cross-promoting fairs to collectors on both sides of the Atlantic, so the flow between fairs goes both ways.” The New York event is also beginning to get an influx of collectors from US museums and patron groups, he adds.

Reports on last year’s New York fair attributed an increase of works by women to this expanding spread of museum contacts and interests. Although data to support such claims is not yet available or systematically collected (Korner says Tefaf “may do so in the future”), this year’s line-up does feature a number of works by top-tier female artists. The highlights include a stand dedicated to the work of Joan Snyder from Thaddaeus Ropac; Top Secret 3 (2012) by Jenny Holzer, on offer at Sprüth Magers; and Abito Silver II (2021) by Naples-born Isabella Ducrot at Galerie Gisela Capitain. First-time participant Salon 94 will bring a selection of works by Rebecca Salsbury James, several of them priced between $275,000 and $375,000 each.

Jewel-box prestige

Although Tefaf’s US edition, founded in 2016, shares a waft of prestige and scholarship with its European heavyweight counterpart in Maastricht (held annually since 1988), the former does so on a markedly smaller scale. Around 90 exhibitors will take part this year, compared with 270 in the most recent iteration in the Netherlands.

Tefaf originally premised its New York expansion on presenting a broader swathe of art history across two seasons, with one fair in autumn as well as one in spring. But the event’s organisers recognised the demand for a more tightly focused fair with an emphasis on Modern and contemporary art (and less on jewellery, antiques and design) staged just once annually. Tefaf announced in April 2021 that it would retire the more classically minded October fair, whose 2020 iteration had been postponed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The shift to Tefaf New York’s current once-yearly form has been welcomed by many exhibitors. “Though we also participated in the fall edition back when it was running, it has always been the contemporary fair in spring where we make our best clients,” says Charis Tyndall, the director of London’s Charles Ede gallery, which is bringing a gilt wood and bronze Egyptian cult statuette of Isis (around 332-30BC) priced at $45,000.

Tefaf’s location at the historic Park Avenue Armory has helped the brand nestle into a packed May diary alongside Frieze New York, Independent and a slew of other fairs, as well as Christie’s, Sotheby’s and Phillips’s headline sales of Modern and contemporary art in their US headquarters.

“The fair’s position in the calendar is more than just finding a slot for the event. With the Old Master sales in January, followed by Tefaf Maastricht in March, having an event focused on Modern and contemporary in May is a natural progression as we then move into summer and smaller fairs across Europe,” says Helen Record of the gallery Robilant + Voena, which will offer a series of ceramics by Lucio Fontana priced between €200,000 and €800,000, including La Novia (the bride) (1940). The gallery’s stand will also feature paintings by Alexander Calder and Sam Francis to demonstrate “the important dialogue between Europe and the United States in the 20th century”, she adds.

Curatorial statements

The use of the Armory’s 16 period rooms, which are generally closed to the public the rest of the year, has increasingly become recognised as an opportunity to make a curatorial statement. This year, plans for the spaces include a group display by Galeria Nara Roesler (including works by Gego, Sheila Hicks, Tomie Ohtake and Heinz Mack, among others), an array of 20th-century Nordic design objects from the gallery Modernity Stockholm and a consideration of the American Studio Craft Movement and Mid-Century Brazilian design by R & Company.

Presentations of works across multiple eras, genres and regions also appear to be thriving, despite the enhanced concentration on Modern and contemporary art.

“The conversation between works from different periods and surprising juxtapositions is not often found at other international fairs, and is the reason the fair has grown each year and drawn such an incredible list of exhibitors,” says David Leiber, a partner at David Zwirner. “The Armory has never looked better.” The gallery will be offering a dual presentation of works by Giorgio Morandi and George Ohr at the 2024 edition of Tefaf New York.

Lessons learned

Despite the many changes, there remains a clear respect for the academic side of the fair, underpinned by its stringent vetting. “Tefaf is an opportunity for collectors in New York and beyond to experience a calibre that had been missing from the New York fair landscape,” says Emmanuel Di Donna, the founder of Di Donna Galleries. “It both activates the uptown collecting community and draws a discerning audience uptown, so it is an excellent gateway to Upper East Side galleries such as ours.”

Di Donna also highlights the use of the fair by New York-based galleries as a platform to create dialogue with their shows in the city. He describes his Tefaf presentation this May as a “pendant to the scholarly exhibitions that we have on view a few blocks away at our Madison Avenue gallery”. He plans to bring a group of Modern works “with a shared interest in the natural world and the cosmos” to his Tefaf stand this May, including examples by Paul Klee, Alexander Calder and Yves Tanguy ranging in price from $700,000 to $2.5m.

Market worries

The New York fair is opening in a period of widespread geopolitical crises and talk of a downturn in the art market overall. Recent data, including in the 2024 Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report, has signalled that even collectors’ traditional “flight to quality” response in times of socioeconomic instability has been wavering—a prospect that could raise alarms for a fair like Tefaf, which defines itself by the high quality of its offerings.

But amid these challenges, Korner remains confident: “The success of our Maastricht edition this year, despite everything, confirms my personal belief that our area of the market, because it’s niche and reliant on a solid base of collectors, is not as much impacted by wider uncertainty. Not a single gallery has raised any concerns in advance of our opening.”

Art Market

Interior view of TEFAF New York, 2024. Photo by Jitske Nap. Courtesy of TEFAF.

Installation view of Ben Brown Fine Arts’s booth at TEFAF New York, 2024. Courtesy of Ben Brown Fine Arts.

Installation view of Mazzoleni’s booth at TEFAF New York, 2024. Photo by Daniel Terna. Courtesy of Mazzoleni.

Joan Snyder, Primary Fields, 2001. © Joan Snyder. Courtesy of Thaddaeus Ropac.

Rebecca Salsbury James and David Wiseman, installation view of Salon 94’s booth at TEFAF New York, 2024. Courtesy of the artists and Salon 94.

Myoung Young Choi, Sign of Equality 75 – 20, 1975. Courtesy of the Page Gallery.

Entering the second consecutive multi-fair week in the New York art trade’s May diary, it was reasonable to wonder whether the abundance (if not overabundance) of supply might undo any sense that the market has perhaps at least begun to stabilise. But the Thursday preview of The European Fine Art Foundation’s (Tefaf) expo in the Empire City provided a jolt of cautious optimism that the market’s trend lines are indeed pointing up, even if at a shallow angle.

The 2024 edition of Tefaf New York (until 14 May) brings around 90 exhibitors to the Park Avenue Armory, with the spotlight more directly on Modern and contemporary works of art and design than its larger, more classically minded predecessor in Maastricht. (That said, this March was the first time that Tefaf Maastricht featured more Modern and contemporary exhibitors than dealers with a pre-20th-century mandate.) Yet the adjustment in temporal focus has done nothing to downgrade the fair’s well earned reputation as what LeeAna Wolfman, a director at Templon gallery of Paris, Brussels and New York, calls “the créme de la créme” of the sector.

This year marks Templon’s second showing at Tefaf New York. Wolfman says the gallery saw participating in the fair as a way to “galvanise” its presence in the city after Templon expanded to Chelsea in the autumn of 2022. Its stand includes works by a range of artists from the gallery’s programme, including thematically rich figurative paintings by Philip Pearlstein (priced between $175,000 and $200,000) and Michael Ray Charles (around $175,000 to $225,000), as well as a discrete, domestically scaled sculpture by Chiharu Shiota ($100,000) using the artist’s beloved webs of thread.

One would never be able to intimate any softness in the market based on the crowds flooding the Armory’s aisles throughout Thursday. “There’s a good feeling in the air. I don’t sense that fatigue,” Wolfman said during the opening hours. “We’ll see if that translates into transactions.”

Asked whether the deals tend to close a bit slower at Tefaf New York than at some other fairs, she says that the speed and frequency of sales typically depends far more on the mentality of each individual collector than on any fair or the larger mood. “On some level it makes sense that higher-quality, higher-priced work would take more time to place. But for some people, a $10,000 work of art can take a lot of consideration.”

Quality control

Nearly every dealer The Art Newspaper surveyed remarked that there was plenty of work worth serious consideration this year. “The quality is very high. It doesn’t feel like any other art fair,” says Alex Logsdail, the chief executive of Lisson Gallery, when asked why Tefaf New York is the gallery’s expo of choice in the city’s May maelstrom. “People really see great art here. You can focus.”

Collectors’ ability to concentrate paid dividends for Lisson early. The gallery had placed at least eight works by Thursday evening. The priciest was Anish Kapoor’s Brandy Wine (2024), a deep red iteration of his signature stainless steel and lacquer mirror works, which sold for £625,000. Olga de Amaral’s Nébula 7 (2015) was the next-highest seller at the stand, going for $220,000.

“The market overall has improved significantly since last year, at least from our perspective. But equally, it’s no longer frothy. The days of everyone selling everything they brought are gone. People are being discerning about their decisions,” Logsdail says, adding that clients are “back to basics” with the questions they’re asking before deciding to buy: “Is it historically significant? Is it a great example of the artist’s work? Is it the correct price?”

The early returns proved that discernment can sometimes go hand in hand with quick decisions and hefty deals. Almine Rech gallery made a big splash on opening day, announcing that it had placed a small Picasso painting for between $1.8m and $2m, as well as a work on paper by the artist for around $500,000. The gallery also closed deals for lower-priced paintings by Kenny Scharf (for between $180,000 and $200,000) and Brian Calvin (around $50,000), along with a bronze sculpture by Claire Tabouret (around $100,000).

Tina Kim Gallery, a longtime exhibitor at Tefaf’s events in Maastricht and New York, also received a warm welcome at the seven-figure level with its stand largely oriented around Korean masterworks from the 1970s. The offerings were led by an early greyscale Park Seo-bo piece with an asking price of $1.5m; it was placed before night fell on preview day. Junni Chen, a director at the gallery, says that Tefaf New York is “a fair that’s very strong for us. We meet a lot of collectors, and we’re always very successful”, particularly with historical works.

From past to past, from four to seven figures

Because of the unique identity established by Tefaf Maastricht, the organisation’s New York fair already has an appetite for prime historical works “in its DNA”, says Nicholas Olney, the president of Kasmin gallery. This unusual latitude empowers the gallery to take “an ambidextrous approach” to its offerings, equally championing contemporary and canonical works.

Fittingly, Kasmin has devoted its stand in one of the Armory’s historical period rooms to a curated selection of works spanning almost a century, from Picasso’s 1923 drawing Nu Debout (baigneuse) to the contemporary sculptor Alma Allen’s showstopping, wall-bound bronze dragonfly from 2022. The presentation foregrounds unexpected formal and thematic throughlines between artists across generations, many of them anchored by explorations of the natural world. Prices range from $36,000 to $2m overall. A collector netted Allen’s dragonfly for $65,000 on preview day, one week ahead of the opening of the artist’s latest solo show at Kasmin on 16 May.

Although the gallery occupies multiple spaces only around 50 blocks away from Tefaf’s perennial home in New York, Olney says that the fair draws “a really excellent clientele that we don’t see in Chelsea all the time”. He adds that the mix includes “a little bit of everyone”, including a tranche of out-of-town clients, at least some of whom plan to stay through next week’s auction cycle.

The New York-based art adviser Liz Parks says there were “some moments of sticker shock on prices for artists perhaps canon-adjacent but not yet in the barrel” inside the Armory, while also noting that the same was true downtown at Independent, which also opened yesterday. But she added there were also “some pleasant pricing surprises” at this year’s Tefaf New York, singling out Petzel gallery’s stand of works by Roger-Edgar Gillet.

Although high quality and high prices typically coincide, in several transactions announced on Thursday, buyers and sellers came together at conspicuously modest price points relative to Tefaf’s high-touch reputation. Along with the higher-priced pieces by Kapoor and De Amaral mentioned above, Lisson also placed five small works by the emerging Japanese sculptor Masaomi Yasunaga for between $4,000 and $12,000 each. Thaddaeus Ropac, which dedicated its stand to works by the American abstractionist Joan Snyder, sold Primary Fields (2001) to an institution in Asia for $350,000 and Garden Wall (2015) elsewhere for $160,000, while six of Snyder’s works on paper found buyers for $15,000 to $40,000 each.

Sean Kelly Gallery’s sales spanned a similarly wide range. A spokesperson for the dealership relayed sales of seven pieces on opening day, with two reaching into the low six figures: a large-scale Alec Soth photograph from 2002, for $135,000, and Kehinde Wiley’s Aluel Mareng Study (2023), painted in oil on paper, for $100,000. But another four were priced lower than $50,000, including a new cyanotype collage by Wu Chi-Tsung for $42,500, a pair of Antony Gormley drawings (£22,500 and £35,000) and a 2023 Hugo McCloud flower work made with paint and single-use plastic for $30,000.

It is almost undeniable that dealmaking will always be paramount to a fair’s perceived success. Yet a high-quality presentation can also buoy dealers, collectors and advisers in ways that invigorate the art market’s animal spirits well after this event closes. On that level, Tefaf New York seems to have succeeded.

“Tefaf was like a meander down a brackish coastal river, its banks festooned with flowers, its waters fertile with both oysters and exceptional art and artefacts, one’s personal paddle boat stopping constantly to marvel at the view. It feels as if joy has been restored to collecting: despite the large crowd, there was time to stop, peruse, contemplate, enquire,” Parks said of the fair in an email to The Art Newspaper Friday morning. “My phone’s camera roll reads like a survey class in Art History’s slide carriage.”

More importantly for Tefaf, its exhibitors and the trade overall, collectors are paying US university tuition rates to take a part of the experience home with them, too.

• Tefaf New York, until 14 May, Park Avenue Armory, New York

“We use it as a backdrop for quite a few furniture dealers, those that we would like to show and experiment in these rooms,” van Seggelen says. 

As for the more traditional dealer booths, he says they’re smaller in New York than at the main Maastricht, Netherlands, fair, which allows attendees both the opportunity to see each piece of art up close and in detail and a chance to connect with the dealers.

“It’s a very open fair. There’s incredible access to dealers, so if you want to learn about something, talk to the dealers,” van Seggelen says. “We are about exchange of knowledge.” 

Each piece that the exhibitors bring to the fair is thoroughly vetted, ensuring the dealers only bring “the best of the best,” van Seggelen says. 

One “rare and special” highlight for van Seggelen is L’Orpailleuse (The Sifter of Gold), 1945, by Yves Tanguy, which will be presented by New York-based Di Donna Galleries.

“This work has both a personal and art historical connection for me. I learned of this work from literature,” he says. “Similarly, TEFAF dealers work through a narrative, they tell stories and they bring artworks to life. Yves Tanguy was the least figurative Surrealist painter.” 

Some other modern and contemporary highlights of the fair include a Visiteur FV II armchair, 1947, by Jean Prouvé and presented by Galerie Patrick Seguin from Paris; Composition, 1947, by Alexander Calder, presented by New York gallery Robilant+Voena; Figure with Banner, 1978, by Roy Lichtenstein, presented by Van de Weghe in New York; and a 25.56-carat blue tourmaline, white diamond, crystal and 18-karat fair-mined gold bracelet by New York-based jewelry designer Ana Khouri. Prices for these pieces are not yet available.

As for antique highlights, Charles Ede from London will present a Roman statuette of Minerva with her owl from the first century and Paris-based Galerie Chenel will present an Ancient Egyptian inscribed block statue circa 1550-1292 BC. 

The fair, of course, isn’t just for private collectors—with its premier offerings, some of the top museums are also eager to get their foot in the door. But their status doesn’t mean they get in first.

“We tell people you have to wait until the preview starts. Everyone has to queue to come into the fair,” van Seggelen says.”In that sense, everyone is equal.” 

In addition to the exhibitor booths, the fair also offers TEFAF Talks, a program with conversations that focus on topics from collecting and cultural heritage to restoration—a key issue for the foundation, whose TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund helps support the restoration of important museum works.

“It’s not only about selling art but also preserving it for the future,” van Seggelen says. “We represent 7,000 years of art history, but there’s also a duty to preserve all the art objects for future generations.”

The fair will run from Friday to Tuesday, with an invite-only collector’s preview on Thursday.