NEW YORK, NY.- TEFAF New York Fall 2019 ran from November 1st to 5th, with a Preview Day on October 31st, continuing the Fair’s tradition of presenting a diverse variety of art and artifacts from around the world. At no other fair in America are guests able to purchase masterpieces, spanning disciplines and centuries of sculpture, painting, drawing, jewelry, furniture, manuscripts, tribal art, and more. This year, TEFAF New York Fall welcomed a selection of contemporary and modern galleries to the fold, garnering impressive sales and notable clientele throughout its run.
Among the most notable sales of the Fair took place at Lillian Nassau (Booth 320), where an American institution purchased a Unique Iron Fireplace From Laurelton Hall, which was owned and designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1882. Lillian Nassau set aside special pieces all year in order to debut them at TEFAF New York Fall 2019, a strategy that proved successful with sales every day of the Fair across categories.
An impressive number of museums and organizations attended the Fair, including American Federation of Arts; American Friends of the Louvre; Asia Society; Birmingham Museum of Art; Brandywine River Museum of Art; Bruce Museum; Cooper Hewitt; Friends of the Ufizzi; Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami; Smithsonian Design Museum, Guggenheim; Indianapolis Museum of Art; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; MoMA; Museo del Barrio; Museo Nazionale Delle Arti Del XXI Secolo; National Gallery; Neue Galerie; Newark Museum; North Carolina Museum of Art; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Royal Academy of Arts; Rijksmuseum; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Speed Art Museum; TATE London; Tel Aviv Museum of Art, American Friends; The Art Table; The Barnes Foundation; The Cleveland Museum of Art; The Frick Collection; The Jewish Museum; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The New Museum; and Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, with many initiating discussions and processes to acquire artwork from exhibitors.
J. Kugel (Booth 301) received interest from multiple museums and sold works to American and European private clientele. Erik Thomsen (Booth 328), also began conversations with a museum concerning a notable work and sold several lacquer pieces to collectors.
Other Asian art sales included a major Chinese ink painting, Feather of Angel (2019) by Guan Zhi (b. 1970), which sold for $175,000 at Michael Goedhuis (Booth 313).
Jack Kilgore (Booth 358) sold Danish artist Valdemar Henrik Nicolai Irminger’s (1850-1938), Self Portrait (1884), an oil on canvas work, for an asking price of $95,000. The dealers also sold Josef Scharl’s (1896-1954), Sunflowers for an asking price of $155,000.
Galerie Thomas (Booth 308), an internationally leading gallery for German Expressionism and Classical Modern Art, sold a modern brass and phosphorous bronze sculpture by Günter Haese (b. 1924), titled Vor Baku (1984), and Wassily Kandinsky’s (1866-1944) gouache on paper piece, Oui (1937), considered a beautiful example of the artist’s late Parisian work.
A tiny and much-admired gem of a painting, Juana and Isabel de Aragon y Pernstein by Antonio Ricci (1565-1635), was sold by Rob Smeets (Booth 209). This 5.2cm by 9.2cm oil on cardboard dual portrait is a historic example of Elizabethan era attire.
Dutch silver and antique jewels specialists A. Aardewerk (Booth 333) sold A Pair of Rare Dutch Silver Tureens (1765) by well-known silversmith Johannes Schiotling (1730-1799).
Furniture also sold well at TEFAF New York Fall with several Ronald Phillips (Booth 357) sales of English pieces, including a George II mahogany kettle stand, The Sykes Kettle Stand (1750), a highly unusual George III mahogany octagonal pedestal desk, The Pulborough Manor Library Desk (1760), and a pair of George II giltwood eagle console tables, The Poyle Park Tables (1735).
Galleria Carlo Virgilio & Co. (Booth 364) sold a wrought iron and glass work attributed to Alberto Gerardi (1889-1965) and Vittorio Zecchin, for Cappellin Venini & C, Murano (1878-1947), titled Flower Vase Holder in the form of a Caprifig Tree (1920). The gallery also sold an Italian painting, Skull (1640-1645) by Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), to a private collector and put another oil painting, The Annunciation (1918) by Vittorio Zecchin (1878-1947) on reserve for a museum.
Alessandra Di Castro (Booth 304), a Roman family of antique dealers who have been in business since 1878, sold five artworks and Robilant + Voena (Booth 201) sold four works, including Friedrich von Amerling’s (1803-1887) oil painting Portrait of Franz Liszt (1838) and Lucio Fontana’s (1899-1968) glazed ceramic piece Adoration (1954).
Returning exhibitors were also successful: Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts (Booth 209) sold several Modernist pieces reaching a total in excess of $500,000 and Burzio’s (Booth 336) pair of a set of six Italian Neo-Pompeian polychrome-painted and carved wood stools (c. 19th century) were sold to a private collector.
Kunstkammer Georg Laue (Booth 347) sold several pieces, among them a highly important Anglo-Saxon Tau cross (c. 11th century) to a New York private collector; a Sculpture of a flying Devil (c. 1780) by the German artist Johann Michael Düchert (1725-1799). Furthermore, an American institution acquired An Ottoman silver besamim box in the shape of a pinecone (c. 19th century).
New York based art collective BREAKFAST sold Mauna Loa Air (2019) for $25,000. The interactive piece, part of a Climate Change series by the studio, displays the carbon dioxide levels of Mauna Loa, Hawaii in real time as the levels rise and fall. The collective also sold the piece’s counterpart, Venice Water (2019), an interactive display of blue and gold aluminum flip-discs which visualize the shifting water levels in Venice, for the same price.
“TEFAF Fall New York distinguishes itself, both in terms of critical quality and attracting informed collectors. The collaborative booths, incorporating contemporary art for the first time into the fall fair, are particularly dynamic,” said Sean Kelly (Booth 210), “The overwhelmingly positive response to our collaborative booth with Charles Ede, which juxtaposes contemporary and ancient artworks, has been particularly exciting, as has been the critical and press response."
“The global art market is always evolving, which is why we strive to ensure our fair-goers have a new and exceptional experience at each fair, discovering rich stories about art from dealers around the world,” said Patrick van Maris, CEO of TEFAF. “We look forward to continuing to bring the art community on this journey of inspiration at TEFAF Maastricht 2020, March 7th to 15th.”
During the Fall Fair, TEFAF Cultural Programming brought together celebrated figures in arts & culture for TEFAF Coffee Talks & TEFAF Afternoons, often drawing standing room only crowds in the landmark Veterans Room of the Armory. A highlight of these talks took place on Sunday afternoon, November 3rd when Tom Loughman, PhD, Director and CEO, Wadsworth Atheneum, led a lively exploration of the spectacular and consequential facets of The Duveens: Taste Makers, Market Shapers, Mega-Dealers. The panel featured Alexis Kugel, Director, Galerie J. Kugel, Aso Tavitian, Collector, Rebecca Tilles, Associate Curator, 18thc French & Western European Fine and Decorative Arts, Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens and Charlotte Vignon, Curator, Decorative Arts, The Frick Collection.
