Press release
TEFAF MAASTRICHT GETS OFF TO A STRONG START
Maastricht, Sunday 11th March 2007 - The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) got
off to a successful start in the Dutch city of Maastricht on Thursday 8 th March
when 8,500 guests, including many of the world’s most important collectors
and museum curators, attended the private view at the Maastricht Exhibition
and Congress Centre (MECC). Dealers reported strong sales on the opening
night and business continued to be good when the Fair opened to the public
the following day (Friday 9th March).
Old master paintings
“It was a very good opening to the Fair and there was a marked increase in
business compared to last year,” said Johnny van Haeften, the London-based
leading specialist dealer in Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings. Among
his sales on the first night was An Italianate Landscape with travellers on a
path by the 17th century Utrecht painter Jan Both. The picture, regarded as
one of the highlights of this year’s TEFAF, was bought by an American private
collector for a price in the region of $5.4 million (£2.7 million, €4 million).
Konrad Bernheimer, chairman of Pictura, the paintings section of TEFAF, said:
“The second day of the Fair was as exciting as the first - lots of people, lots of
interest and lots of works reserved. This is the general feeling across the
board and it looks as if this is going to be a very good Fair." ” BernheimerColnaghi, which has galleries in Munich and London, sold Paris and Oenone by
the Frenchman Jean-Francois de Troy for a six-figure sum and a pair of
landscapes by Robert Griffier, a successful artist in 18th century England.
Other Old Master paintings sales included a 17th century painting of Saint
Jerome by Matthias Stomer, sold by Robilant + Voena of London and Milan for
around £200,000 ($394,000, €298,000), Jan Steen’s The Banquet of Anthony
and Cleopatra, for which Haboldt & Co of Paris soon found a buyer, and Isaac
and Rebecca by Gerbrand van den Eekhout, a pupil and friend of Rembrandt,
sold by Jack Kilgore of New York. Among the 19th century pictures that went
to new owners on the opening night was Holy Spirit, Danzig, painted by the
German artist Fritz Stoltenberg in 1880, which The Fine Art Society of London
sold to an American buyer. The Louvre museum in Paris bought Head of a
Young Boy by Gotlieb Schiek, dating from 1800-1802, from Arnold-Livie of
Munich immediately after the opening of the private view.
Modern art
The modern and contemporary section of TEFAF also performed well with the
Mayor Gallery of London selling two works by Claes Oldenburg, Liver Sausage
and Slices, dating from 1961, and the artist’s 1967 piece Green Ladies Shoes,
the latter for more than €1 million (£670,000, $1.3 million). Four bronze
sculptures by Jonathan Meese – Napoleon I, Napoleon II, Soldier of Fortune
and Saint Just went to new buyers at the stand of Galerie Daniel Blau of
Munich. Galerie Cazeau-Béraudière from Paris reported brisk business selling
three works by Kees van Dongen, one by Amedeo Modigliani, one by Mark
Rothko and one by Max Ernst. Galerie Thomas from Munich sold Zwei Pferden
mit Fohlen by Heinrich Campendonk while Marlborough, which has galleries in
Zurich and London, had a good start to the fair with sales of works by Richard
Estes, Stephen Conroy and the Chinese contemporary artist Wang Keping.
Antiquities
TEFAF has always attracted serious collectors of antiquities and dealers in this
sector of the market reported good sales after the opening of the Fair. Rupert
Wace Ancient Art from London sold 12 items during the private view,
including a life-size Roman bronze arm dating from about the 2nd century AD
which went to a new European private collector for a price in the region of
€70,000 (£47,000, $92,500). Another leading London dealer Charles Ede Ltd
sold a 4th century BC Greek marble stele for around £120,000 ($236,000,
€178,000) and a decorated Greek lidded mug made in Apulia about 350340BC for a price in the region of £55,000 ($108,000, €82,000). “It has been
absolutely our best TEFAF ever,” said James Ede, director of the gallery. “We
have always had a good Fair here but this year is exceptional.”
Asian Art
The Asian art section of TEFAF has expanded in recent years and Ben
Janssens Oriental Art, based in London, sold 25 pieces on the opening night
including an 11th century BC Chinese bronze ceremonial wine vessel, bought
by a Swiss private collector for about €250,000 (£167,000, $330,000), and a
Japanese gilt-lacquered wooden figure of the Buddha, from the Edo period in
the 17th to 18th centuries, which went to a Belgian collector for approximately
€60,000 (£40,000, $79,000). “We saw many familiar faces on the opening
night but we also had an encouraging number of new clients,” said Janssens,
who is chairman of the Executive Committee of The European Fine Art
Foundation. Vanderven & Vanderven Oriental Art of Den Bosch sold 40 pieces
including a superb large oil lamp used to celebrate the afterlife during the Han
dynasty (206BC – 220AD), which was bought by an American museum.
The classically simple lines of Chinese Ming dynasty furniture appeal to an
increasingly wide range of collectors and Grace Wu Bruce from Hong Kong
sold one of her finest pieces, a Huanghuali wooden altar table, to a new,
young private buyer from Germany. Fine European furniture also sold well
and a recently rediscovered commode, made in Germany about 1786 by G.W.
Holzhauer, was sold to the Deutsche Historische Museum in Berlin by the
Hamburg-based dealer Frank C. Möller Fine Arts. A Spanish collector bought a
silver gilt plaque depicting the Adoration of the Shepherds attributed to Paulus
van Vianen and made in Prague about 1610 from John Endlich Antiquairs of
Haarlem. In the Antiques and Works of Art section Bresset of Paris sold a
wooden statue of Christ, made in the Rhineland about 1200, for a price in the
region of €100,000 (£67,000, $132,000).
VIPs
Among well-known faces seen at the Fair were Silvio Berlusconi, the former
Italian prime minister, Princess Marilène van Vollenhove of the Netherlands
and leading interior designers from around the world. The latter included Tony
Ingrao, Randy Kemper and Bruce Bierman, who are all based in New York but
work internationally, and Sig Bergamin and Jorge Elias from Săo Paulo, Brazil.
AXA Art, principal sponsor of TEFAF
AXA Art and TEFAF will offer a limited edition service card to visitors enabling
them to check the provenance of artworks on international databases. AXA
Art will also stage an exhibition entitled Thrill of Collecting II: Plastic, showing
rare design and art objects made of plastic from collections around the world.
Note for editors
For more information please contact:
U.K.
Cawdell Douglas
Diana Cawdell/Will Bennett
10-11 Lower John Street
London W1F 9EB, UK
Tel: +44 (0)20 7439 2822
Fax: +44 (0)20 7287 5488
E-mail:
press@cawdelldouglas.co.uk
U.S.A.
NBTC
Barbara Veldkamp
355 Lexington Avenue
New York, NY 10017, USA
Tel: 212-370 7360 X 19
Fax: 212 370 9507
bveldkamp@holland.com
Other countries
The European Fine Art Foundation
Eveline Bots/Titia Vellenga/Petra
van den Engel
Broekwal 64
5268 HD Helvoirt, Netherlands
T. +31 411-645090, F. 645091
press@tefaf.com