MAASTRICHT, the Netherlands — Every March museum directors and curators from around the world flock to the European Fine Art Fair, held in a soulless convention center here. They come to look at the art, gauge the market and network with colleagues, collectors and trustees. But this year, barely 24 hours after the preview on

MAASTRICHT, THE NETHERLANDS — The European Fine Art Fair, which closes Sunday, delivers a striking message. What is conventionally called the art market is a myth. There are as many micro-markets as there are categories in art and they do not follow the same patterns. Consider “Antiquities,” a label that covers anything belonging to the

An uncaptioned illustration from the TEFAF global art market report,photo by Loraine Bodewes HOW BIG IS THE GLOBAL ART MARKET? by Rachel Corbett How big is the global art market? A new report from The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF), released in conjunction with the current TEFAF Maastricht art fair, Mar. 16-25, 2012, sets the

Several years ago the fair began beefing up its modern and contemporary art section, giving other fairs like Art Basel a bit of competition. But this year, although there are 46 modern and contemporary galleries exhibiting, the same number as last year, the selection is noticeably weaker. Gone are many of the big-name dealers like

Daniel Katz, a London dealer, for example, filled a wall of his booth with 30 intricately carved plaster statuettes (1831-44) whimsically depicting musicians and other famous personalities in the arts. Made by Jean-Pierre Dantan (or Dantan the Younger), a French sculptor who was known for his amusing caricatures, he captured the likenesses of Paganini and

Some experts singled out “The Sacrifice of Iphigenia,” a 1671 mythological scene by the Dutch master Jan Steen, as the finest painting in the fair. Dickinson, the London dealer, sold it late Friday afternoon on behalf of descendants of Jacques Goudstikker, a prominent Dutch dealer who fled Amsterdam in 1940, leaving behind works that his

As usual some of the best works were snapped up instantly. By Saturday morning Johnny van Haeften, a London dealer, had sold “An Italianate Landscape With Travelers on a Path” (around 1650), by the Dutch Baroque painter Jan Both, for $5.4 million. The large canvas (about 55 by 65 inches) depicts a rocky landscape bathed