This year saw TEFAF Maastricht taking place alongside its sister fairs in New York. I was slightly concerned that US custom would abandon the fair in light of the ease with which US collectors could simply visit the New York Amory in May and November. That said, results were solid on the opening day and whilst there were no standout blockbuster sales the mood was upbeat. No matter what dealers may have said – deals took place and there were plenty of happy faces after the first Thursday.
The best stands belonged to the usual suspects –
Dickinson had a superb large Corinth, a wonderful Klee oil and a very rare pair of Leonora Carrington paintings from the Edward James collection.
Richard Nagy’s stand exhibited plentiful examples of wonderful Schiele and Klimt works on paper as well as great works on paper by Neue Sachlichkeit artists: from Schlicter to Grosz.
Galerie Hopkins had the same superb Antoine Pevsner sculpture as last year… but it is still a masterpiece. He also exhibited a superb Brauner wax-encaustic (wax finished canvas) from 1946 available at 500,000 USD.
Jacques Beraudiere showed a 1940s Masson, hugely undervalued compared to other Surrealists, and some wonderful Paris school works.
However, the best painting in the fair was the simply stunning Beckmann portrait on the Henze Ketterer stand which had been owned by the family of the gallery owner since 1946. At 25m USD it was strongly priced but certainly worth more than 18m USD if a deal could be struck.
Having spoken to many gallery owners during the first three days of the fair it seemed that great people had passed through. However, to tell the success of a show like TEFAF one needs to wait until the last Sunday when the haggling begins and ends!