NEW YORK, NY.- A lively crowd descended on the historic Park Avenue Armory on Thursday, marking the opening of TEFAF New York, boasting more than an 11% increase in attendance from the previous year’s edition. The fair’s eleventh edition kicked off on Thursday, May 8, with an invite-only Preview Day, followed by a public opening on Friday, May 9. The just over 90 international exhibitors, including thirteen new galleries, welcomed visitors with exceptional works on view from modern and contemporary art, antiquities, jewelry, and design objects. Collectors and private and institutional curators arrived ready to buy, driving robust sales throughout the opening days.
ATTENDEES
Notable VIP guests included Josh Baer, Anthony Baratta, Renée Belfer, Derek Blasberg, Michael Bloomberg, Athena Calderone, Jesse Carrier, Leandra Medine Cohen, Caro Daur, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Jamie Drake, Thom Filicia, Marina Kellen French, David Geffen, Jacques Grange, Audrey Gruss, Martin Gruss, Carolina Herrera, Tony Ingrao, Marc Jacobs, Celerie Kemble, Randy Kemper, Reed Krakoff, Marie-Josée Kravis, Steve Martin, Brian McCarthy, David Netto, Jamie Niven, Ashley Olsen, Young Paris, Rodman Primack, Kathy Rayner, James Reginato, Charles Riva, Whitney Robinson, Andrew Roosevelt, Tom Scheerer, Larry Tisch, Laurie Tisch, Emily Weiss, and Bunny Williams.
This year’s Collectors Preview also welcomed over 70 museum representatives, including directors and curators with an impressive range of focus areas, including textiles, fashion, Egyptian art, conservation, and architecture and design. Among these representatives were Niv Allon (Metropolitan Museum of Art), David Barquist (Philadelphia Museum of Art), Joseph Becker (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), Silvia Karman Cubina (Bass Museum), Philipp Demandt (Städel Museum), Martina Droth (Yale Center for British Art), Vivien Greene, (The Guggenheim), Max Hollein (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Wendy Kaplan (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), Guillaume Kientz (Hispanic Society of America), Glenn Lowry (Museum of Modern Art), Katherine Luber (Minneapolis Institute of Art), Kate Market (Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens), Jessica Morgan (Dia Art Foundation), Lisa Pilosi (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Axel Rüger (The Frick Collection), Tanja Hwang (Museum of Modern Art), Rein Wolfs (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), and Christopher Wilk (Victoria and Albert Museum).
EARLY SALES
Collectors did not stray from high price tags, as new exhibitors received positive attention from New York’s well-heeled art community—David Aaron (Stand 212) sold The Hultmark Horus, a bronze sculpture, for nearly $700,000 to a private buyer within the first hour of the fair. Lee Bontecou’s Untitled (1959) sold in the range of $2 million at Marc Selwyn Fine Art/Ortuzar (Stand 104). Marc Selwyn Fine Art/Ortuzar also saw strong institutional interest in the large Lee Bontecou sculpture that is the centerpiece of their booth. First-time participant Richard Saltoun (Stand 205) sold Peter Collingwood’s Macrogauze M.84, No. 11 (1984) and Yvonne Pacanovsky Bobrowicz’s Cosmic Series (2000).
Enduring TEFAF mainstays also saw success during the opening. David Tunick (Stand 371) sold Paul Cézanne’s remarkable double-sided portrait drawing of the artist’s only son for six figures, titled Three Portraits of Paul and studies after Pedro de Moya and Tintoretto (recto) Portrait of Paul and Studies (verso), (c. 1879-1880).
“It's been an extremely busy opening for this year, perhaps even more so than last year, and as we'd expect from TEFAF attendees, we're meeting with extremely sophisticated and informed collectors. Having a solo focus on Daniel Richter's new paintings has elicited a very positive response, reflected in collectors' swift decisions to buy. In the first couple of hours, we had sold most of the works on our booth,” commented Thaddaeus Ropac, of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (Stand 345). Daniel Richter’s oil on canvas, sperlingskleine WEISE (2024) and Triumpf des Höhnischen were among the works sold from their booth, each priced at over $470,000.
Solo presentations proved to be a compelling way to demonstrate an artist’s oeuvre and drive sales. On the fair's opening day, David Zwirner (Stand 347) sold four sculptures priced between $320,000–2.8 million and six works on paper priced between $50,000–160,000 from its focused booth of works by Ruth Asawa. Gladstone Gallery (Stand 344) sold more than 45 of George Condo’s drawings for $15,000 150,000 to American clients and international collectors visiting the fair. From its solo booth of Anne Imhof, Sprüth Magers (Stand 306) sold three pencil on paper works for between $11,000-33,000, and a bronze cast for more than $280,000.
In addition, Anna Weyant's presentation of new paintings created especially for the fair sold out at Gagosian (Stand 350).
Leon Tovar (Stand 366) had a successful opening, including the sale of two mixed media works on paper by Emma Reyes, Flor (1976) and White Poppy (1979). Cardi (Stand 341) sold Piero Manzoni’s Achrome (1962) to an American collector for more than $330,000, Agostino Bonalumi’s Bianco (1989) for an asking price of $120,000, Davide Balliano’s UNTITLED_0305 (2024) and UNTITLED_0302 (2024) for an asking price of $35,000 each; and Mimmo Rotella’s Giallo-bianco-nero (1980) and Blank Demi Frame (1980-1981) for $55,000 each.
Sales highlights at Lisson Gallery (Stand 342) included Sean Scully’s Wall Tappan Deep Red (2025) for $500,000; Dalton Paula’s Zacimba Gaba (2025) for $200,000; Kelly Akashi’s Be Me (A Thousand Flowers), 2021 for $50,000; and Olga de Amaral’s Tierra y fibra 3 (1988). White Cube (Stand 355) sold Tracey Emin’s You please me (2022) for nearly $400,000, Julie Mehretu’s color aquatint etchings titled Six Bardos: Hymn (Behind the Sun) (2018) for $250,000, and Ed Ruscha’s acrylic on canvas Brave Men Study I (1995).
An American collector purchased a work on paper by Henry Moore titled Women Winding Wool (1948) from Osbourne Samuel (Stand 360), who also sold Ben Nicholson’s 1940 (Painting) (1940). A private collector brought home a set of 20 small works on paper by Jean Dubuffet from a series of vignettes the artist made for his daughter in 1983 from Waddington Custot (Stand 316). Waddington Custot also sold a watercolor painting by Bernard Boutet de Monvel, Fortieth street depuis le Radiator Building (1932), and a bronze work by Barry Flanagan.
Almine Rech (Stand 322) saw interest across its diverse presentation, with sales of works by Ali Cherri, Dylan Solomon Kraus, Marie Laurencin, Ines Longevial, Pablo Picasso, Chloe Wise, and Zio Ziegler.
A trademark of TEFAF NY is the intersection of modern and contemporary art with design and jewelry, and early sales rose in those categories as well. Friedman Benda (Stand 325) sold Squid Chair with Desk, a unique work made by Wendell Castle in 1966, and Galerie Chastel-Maréchal (Stand 318) sold a living room set (circa 1952) by Jean Royère and Guy De Rougemont’s Nuage (Cloud) coffee table (circa 1970). Specializing in jewelry made and designed by painters, sculptors, architects and designers, Didier Ltd (Stand 105) sold a high carat gold pendant medallion decorated in sunken relief with a rampant bull produced by Pablo Picasso, in collaboration with the artist’s dentist Dr. Philippe Châtaignier, and a textured gold pendant decorated in a sunken relief with red enamel bird by Georges Braque.
