TEFAF Names Dominique Savelkoul As Its New Managing Director

Dominique Savelkoul has joined The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) as its new managing director, effective as of September 2. Savelkoul, a Belgium resident, is a veteran museum and government official who served several leadership positions.

In her most recent role, Savelkoul served as the leader at Mu.ZEE, an internationally recognized museum in Oostende, Belgium, which also includes the monographic museums dedicated to Constant Permeke in Jabbeke and Luc Peire in Knokke, specializing in Belgian art from 1850 to the present. She is credited with navigating the museum through the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic and spearheaded a museum redesign. She also is credited with increasing the museum’s attendance and elevating its profile on the global stage.

Other positions she’s held shows a diversity of work in fine arts, culture and government leadership. Her experience, according to her LinkedIn page, includes being a board member of Bozar, the Centre for Fine Arts’ in Brussels, government commissioner of ConcertGebouw in Bruges, and board member of the MA Festival Bruges.

“We are excited to welcome Dominique to TEFAF,” Hidde van Seggelen, president of the TEFAF Executive Committee, said in a statement. “Dominique’s unique experience and knowledge, gained from a distinguished career in the international cultural sector, will be an asset to TEFAF in the coming years, particularly in fundraising, audiences and visitor experience.”

TEFAF is a not-for-profit foundation founded by art dealers. It hosts the TEFAF Maastricht fine arts fair, one of the oldest, largest and most prestigious art fairs in the world, and the TEFAF New York art fair. Both are held annually. TEFAF is known for its commitment to scholarship, academia, education, curatorial excellence and cultural heritage.

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“I am thrilled to join TEFAF, a key player in the international art community,” Savelkoul said in a statement. “TEFAF holds a significant role in connecting the institutional/non-profit sector with the constantly evolving art market. I am eager to use, together with the team, my experience and commitment to develop a compelling, sustainable, long-term vision for the Foundation’s future. As a prominent art institution and influential voice, TEFAF still has untapped potential to extend its societal and scholarly impact, ensuring excellence as a guardian and preserver of art historical knowledge for future generations.”

Savelkoul is the fifth director of TEFAF in the past four years. The most recent managing director, Bart Drenth, resigned in December after just six months when his anti-woke and anti-Muslim social media posts on X (formerly Twitter) were translated from Dutch to English and published by “Artnet News.”

TEFAF also announced two new appointments to its board of trustees. They are:

Adrian Sassoon, who runs an eponymous gallery in Belgravia, London, specializing in international, contemporary works of decorative art and 18th century French porcelain. He is an authority on Vincennes and Sèvres porcelain and wrote the catalog on the subject for The J. Paul Getty Museum, where he started his career. Kate Malone, Stephen Cox RA, Pippin Drysdale, Hiroshi Suzuki and Elizabeth Fritsch are among the artists Sassoon represents. Sassoon has exhibited at TEFAF Maastricht since 2008 and TEFAF New York since 2017.

Valentina Vico, who is the director and company shareholder of Benappi Fine Art, Mayfair, London. She is a specialist dealer in Italian and European Old Master paintings and sculpture. Vico is a board member of Associazione Antiquari d’Italia and was appointed as a designate to assist and participate in Apollo, an association pursuing a dialogue among Italian institutions to improve art regulation and support the art industry and market.