BRUSSELS.- The BRAFA (Brussels Art fair) taking place in Brussels on the Tour & Taxis site until 3 February, is off to an excellent start. This is the case in terms of its visitor figures, which, with 33,000 visitors welcomed by Tuesday night, are entirely in line with the 2018 version, which closed with a record of more than 65.000 visitors.
Similarly, in terms of sales, a great many transactions have already been recorded during the opening evenings and the first weekend. The contagious good humour of the British duo Gilbert & George, the guests of honour at the 2019 edition – who received a veritable onslaught of requests for autographs and other selfies during the opening – spread throughout the corridors of the fair, helping to persuade collectors and actors to give in to the thousand and one temptations presented by the 133 exhibitors in attendance.
It is true that the context may lend itself particularly well to the success of the event. First of all, its overall quality, which observers, both Belgian and foreign, stress that it has been higher year on year, enabling the fair to attract new clients who affirm that they have been completely won over by its charms. Moreover, the fall in interest rates paid on savings accounts, which in some cases make for a negative annual yield if one takes inflation, is clearly an incentive for investors to spend their money while gaining pleasure in the result. Lastly, it is unquestionable that Brafa is an event which collectors and art lovers look forward to each year. They no doubt set aside this period each year for the fair that veritably launches the art market’s year.
Brafa is open daily from 11:00 am to 7 pm, until Sunday 3 February inclusive.
A few sold highlights
• La Faneuse, 1896, oil on canvas by Emile Claus, presented by the Galerie Oscar Devos
• Still Life with Figs by Pablo Picasso, and a view of the Port de Marseille by Albert Marquet, at the Galerie Pentcheff.
• Italian design of the 1950s-1980s presented by the Italian gallery Robertaebasta is quite clearly a favourite, having sold among other items a "Suvretta" bookshelf by Ettore Sottsass on the first evening, and having been the object of much interest on a daily basis!
• The Heritage Gallery of Moscow has caused a sensation upon its first participation in the fair, with works of Soviet Art Deco of the 1930s, including a round table with a hammer and sickle inlaid on its top, initially designed for the Ministry of Nutrition in 1930.
• The Little Harlequin (c. 1928) by Anto Carte (1886-1956), exhibited by the Lancz Gallery, immediately found a buyer.
• A good number of works by Goudji exhibited as part of a solo show by the Galerie Claude Bernard
• The Taménaga Gallery reports the sale of 7 paintings by Takehiko Sugawara (between €9 and 35,000), a canvas by Kyosuke Tchinai (between €16 and 56,000), and 2 paintings by Tom Christopher (between €16 and 45,000).
• At Klaas Muller, a painting by Jacob Jordaens (Antwerp 1593-1678) and workshop, portrait of Saint Andrew, circa 1625.
• Reflecting a growing interest in its area of speciality, Lex Antiqua reports the sale of several engravings by Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Rembrandt van Rijn.
• Several sales at the Galerie Vrouyr, including a much-admired braided carpet 306 x 430 cm, USA, circa 1930
• Whitford Fine Arts has recorded sales of works by Clive Barker (including ‘Brains’, 2015) Joseph Lacasse and Paul Van Hoeydonck to German clients in particular.
• Charly Bailly made an excellent start, in particular with 3 works valued at more than €200.000 and 3 others at more than €100.000 to Russian, Swiss, Belgian, Dutch and Chinese collectors.
• At the Galerie Mathivet, the work of the contemporary designer Franck Evennou and Art Deco design met with great success, notably with the sale of vases from the 1930s by the great French metal artist Claudius Linossier.
• Works by the Belgian painters Paul Delvaux, Léon Spilliaert, Pierre Alechinsky, Fernand Khnopff, James Ensor, Rik Wouters, Gustave Vande Woestyne, and Valerius de Saedeleer, to name but a few, found several buyers at the Harold t’Kint de Roodenbeke, Jos Jamar, Francis Maere Fine Arts and Seghers galleries in particular.
• Boon Gallery reports the sale of several marble sculptures by Pablo Atchugarry
• At Finch & Co, the complete series of 12 caricature portraits of leading Catholic clergy (responsible for the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685) sculpted in ivory (end of the 17th-beginning of the 18th century), the flagship work in their selection.
• Lastly, at Christian Deydier, a specialist in Chinese art, mentioned in particular a Northern Qi terracotta horseman (550-577)
