NEW YORK.- Since launched in 1994 The International Fine Art Fair has consistently provided a forum for private and museum collectors to enjoy and purchase from among a staggering selection of top-of-the-market paintings, drawings and sculpture. The 13th event, held this year from the 12th-17th May, in the familiar surroundings of The Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue , proved yet again that for buyers looking for fine art of outstanding quality, this carefully vetted show is the place to find it. The fair looked even more sensational than usual due to its redesign, which added to the glamorous ambience that the show is so well known for.

With roughly a half a billion dollars worth of art on offer at the fair, individual sales in the $1 to $10 million dollar range were considerable, and this year was no exception. The fair consistently attracts the most sophisticated, knowledgeable and affluent buyers and has a uniquely intimate and boutique reputation among collectors in the know.

A glittering gala benefit hosted by the Frick Collection opened the 2006 International Fine Art Fair at The Seventh Regiment Armory on Park Avenue on the 11th May. A mix of high profile names from the society and entertainment worlds, 54 of the world’s leading fine art dealers and an impressive selection of top of the market paintings, drawings and sculpture, provided a not-to-be-missed opportunity for any art collector.

Michael Eisner, Leon Black, Marina Rust Connor, Lauren Dupont, Billy and Kathy Rayner, Aerin Lauder Zinterhofer, Carol Mack, Mrs Deeda Blair and Stanley Tucci, were just a few of those circulating at the party and viewing the stands of dealers from Europe and the United States. Offering a wide range of fine art from Italian Renaissance to Classic Modern, exhibitors included regulars at the fair such as Galerie Cazeau-Beraudiere, Richard Green, Galerie Tamenaga, Colnaghi/Katrin Bellinger, Moretti, French & Company, and Didier Aaron.

During the run of the fair, more than 75 museums representatives were in attendance with major Trustee groups visiting including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston . In addition, groups from The Cosmopolitan Club, The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Consular Women’s Committee, English Speaking Union, Cooper Hewitt Museum, Dahesh Museum, Swiss Consulate, Taiwanese Consulate, HSBC Bank, Citibank, BMW, Australian Women’s Group and the Scarsdale, New York Resident’s Association all visited the fair.

The AAMC – The American Association of Art Museum Curators holds their annual meeting in New York to coincide with The International Fine Art Fair and their constituents attended the fair.

The fair benefited from extensive print, radio and television media coverage and targeted direct mail and promotional magazine campaigns resulting in an especially successful run.

One of the major successes of opening night was at new exhibitor, Owen Gallery from New York . Specialists in American art 1880-1940, they sold one of their highlights, Maurice Prendergast’s oil Deer Park for in excess of $1m to a private buyer. Painted c.1914-15, this oil is particularly important since it dates from a transitional period in the artist’s work, at the height of the European (Impressionist and Post-Impressionist) influence on his style.

In addition on opening night, New York based dealer in Old Masters Jack Kilgore – a specialist in museum quality 16th-18th century Old Masters - sold a double portrait by Cornelis de Wael, featuring the artist and his brother Lucas. This oil went to a museum buyer at an asking price of around $165,000.

Although we are highlighting some of the more interesting sales here, a majority of the exhibitors reported strong business throughout the show with a large number of sales made across the price range and in all categories from Old Masters to Modern. The higher prices go the greater the secrecy surrounding any sales but a typical story was at Neal Fiertag of New York and Paris, who invariably sells out his highly collectable, reasonably priced selection of 18th through 20th century paintings, drawings and sculpture. He looked set to replicate that success with a large quantity of sales in the $2000-$50,000 range.

Sales in the five figure bracket were prevalent throughout the show; business also reported as steady in the low six figure range. New exhibitor Univers du Bronze from Paris fell into this category with Alain Richarme, who specializes in Barye and Carpeaux sculpure, reporting keen interest from private and institutional buyers on his range of 19th century bronze and marble offerings at that level.

Another first time exhibitor, Jennifer Krieger (formerly of Questroyal Fine Art) has recently formed her own gallery, Hawthorne Fine Art, in New York . Enjoying steady business at the fair at the five-figure level, she made an especially notable sale with a characteristically elegant still life by Martin Johnson Heade going for $1.1m to an existing client. Painted in oils on canvas and showing Cherokee Roses in a Glass, it was executed around 1883-95.

London dealer Sladmore Gallery, who carry early 20th century bronzes, also found themselves at the centre of keen interest, with Oprah Winfrey among those paying a visit and admiring a number of pieces during a Saturday visit to the show. Other sales included Rembrandt Bugatti’s Walking Puma for around $400,000 to an American collector, while another private buyer – with shipping world interests – purchased two rare Belgian bronzes. One was a life-size head and shoulders study of a dock-worker by painter turned sculptor, Constantin Meunier, from around 1900, a typically heroic portrayal of the working man ($48,500), and the second a large bronze group by Josue Dupon from 1909 of two dray horses and workmen offloading cargo at the end of their working day ($85,000).

One of the major Old Master sales was that of the large, highly finished gouache The Sacrifice of Noah by Joseph Anton Koch (1768-1839) on offer at London and Munich dealer Colnaghi/Katrin Bellinger. Priced at around $200,000, it is identical in composition and size to the finished oil of the same subject in the Staedel Museum in Frankfurt . One of several versions of The Sacrifice of Noah executed on paper by the artist, this mountainous landscape, inspired by his native alps as well as a more idealized Italianate landscape, captures the moment when the flood waters slowly recede as the great storm passes and Noah prepares to make a sacrifice of thanks, surrounded by a host of animals. It dates from the early 1800s, approximately half-way through Koch’s 17 year period in Rome and shows the combined influence of his native Alps and the idealized landscape of Italy .

Elsewhere, Ben Elwes Ltd from London sold a much admired head and shoulders profile portrait of a seated girl by 19th century French artist Paul Jean Flandrin to a buyer who had seen it illustrated in the review of the fair by Ken Johnson in the New York Times. Painted in oils c.1843, it went to a new, private client for around $95,000. On offer at a higher price level, in line with its rarity, was a small scale (more freely painted than customary in a finished work by the artist) study in oils by Sir Joshua Reynolds, This panel painting of a coquettish, scantily dressed nymph accompanied by a cupid bearing the title The Snake in the Grass, dated from around 1783. With the added attraction of a having belonged to the artist’s niece The Marchioness of Thomond until the 1820s, it sold at the fair to an existing client.