For lovers of antiquities and classic European art, the second installment of Tefaf New York Fall last week offered Old Masters, glittering armor and ancient Egyptian works of art, bringing a little bit of Europe to the Park Avenue Armory in mid-autumn.
With dozens of art fairs popping up across the U.S. and the globe, Tefaf is one worth clearing the calendar for. Stepping into the airy, clean-lined spaces of the Gothic Revival armory, filled with flowers imported from the Netherlands (where Tefaf was born), was like entering a museum. In fact, many pieces on display in the fair’s 95 galleries could end up in one of dozens of museums across the country, considering the number of curators in attendance from institutions like The J. Paul Getty Museum, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Nicolas Kugel, co-owner of Galerie J. Kugel, Paris, and a former Tefaf Maastricht board member, sold “objets d’art,” silver, furniture, sculpture, scientific instruments, and paintings ranging in price from $50,000 to “many millions,” including one unnamed piece sold to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The fair, which ran from Saturday, Oct. 28 to Wednesday, Nov. 1, was a first for the gallery in the U.S., and Kugel’s assessment: “It’s been wonderful.”
Hanging from the ceiling of his gallery stand was a whimsical late 20th century Swiss clock possibly made for a sultan in the Ottoman Empire. The back of a large clock face serves as a floor for a gilded bronze bird cage, which houses two brightly feathered birds that break out in song when the clock is turned on. Kugel activated it one afternoon and the whistling bird calls quickly attracted a crowd.
The New York fair is a joint venture between the co-founders of Artvest, an art investment advisor, and Tefaf, formerly The European Fine Arts Fair, which has hosted a fair in Maastricht, the Netherlands, since 1988. The New York fall fair focuses on fine and decorative arts from antiquity to the early 20th century, while a spring fair focuses on modern and contemporary art and design. Spreading beyond Maastricht to New York is Tefaf’s response to Art Basel, a contemporary art fair originally based in Switzerland that has spawned huge fairs in Miami and Hong Kong.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
Gallery owners and directors attending Tefaf New York from across Europe were happy to have a chance to meet more American collectors than could attend Tefaf Maastricht, and to get exposure to a far-flung roster of U.S. museums.
“A lot of museums (in the U.S.) are still acquiring and this is an opportunity to meet them,” says Charis Tyndall, director of the Charles Ede gallery from London.
Charles Ede focuses on ancient works of art, selling items ranging from under $1,000 to $350,000. Among its New York sales was an Egyptian Naophoros statue, created during Egypt’s New Kingdom period, around 1400 BC. A portion of the statue, listed for $350,000, was re-cut by a new owner in the “third intermediate period,” around 945-720 BC.
Advertisement – Scroll to Continue
Closer to home, Jack Kilgore appreciates being three blocks from his Jack Kilgore & Co. gallery, which specializes in 19th century and early modern Flemish and Dutch paintings priced between $35,000 and $250,000. Kilgore, who considers Tefaf the “best show for this period of art,” sold five paintings at the armory and another at his gallery during the event. A favorite yet to be sold is an Old Master style work by Emilio Baz Viaud. “Portrait of the Painter, George Hutzler with his pet, Bimba” selling for $120,000. Painted in 1949, the work is “the latest, most modern piece I’ve ever had,” he says. Kilgore also shows at the far larger Maastricht show, which this spring will feature 270 galleries.
Tefaf Maastricht 2018 will be held March 10-18 at the MECC (Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre), Maastricht, The Netherlands. Tefaf New York Spring fair will be at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City from May 4-8.
