MAASTRICHT.- TEFAF Maastricht has much to celebrate. The art market has changed enormously since the Fair was founded 25 years ago and TEFAF has been at the forefront of a revolution in the way that art is bought and sold. Celebrating the Best, 25 Years of TEFAF Maastricht, published to mark the Fair’s Silver Jubilee, looks at its part in what has been a turbulent quarter of a century in the history of the art market. The authors, Paula Weideger, Will Bennett, Diana Cawdell and Gareth Harris, have talked to the dealers who founded the Fair, those who work behind the scenes, some of the private collectors and museum curators who buy there, leading citizens of Maastricht and others who have contributed to its success.
The extracts below give a flavour of the book, copies of which will be available at TEFAF Maastricht, which takes place from 16-25 March 2012 at the MECC (Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre) in the southern Netherlands.
TEFAF’s first 25 years
‘TEFAF Maastricht threw the old rules about how an art and antiques fair should be organised out of the window when it was founded 25 years ago and has continued to break new ground and set high standards ever since…… The emergence of TEFAF- a classic example of the right people combining their vision for the future at the right time in the right location - was a development that was to change the way that the international art and antiques market operates……The dealers who were to become the founding fathers of TEFAF were determined to have a fair run by exhibitors for exhibitors with the surplus funds ploughed back into a not-for-profit foundation which would invest in the future of the event.’
TEFAF and the city of Maastricht
‘The Mayor of Maastricht, Onno Hoes, is unequivocal; “TEFAF is the most important event to take place in the city during the year.” At first sight Maastricht is an unlikely venue to hold the world’s most important art and antiques fair but there is a strong bond between the Fair and the city, the two entities have grown up together.’
Private collectors – the lifeblood of the Fair
‘Making accidental discoveries is one of the joys of going to such a large and varied Fair. In the 1990s, [Dora] Janssen was enjoying a glass of champagne at Axel Vervoordt’s when she was nudged off his stand by the crowd inside. She found herself next door at the space occupied by London’s Sam Fogg, whom she did not know. She looked around and before she left she bought a medieval illuminated miniature. This was a modest purchase but that chance encounter led to a major one the following year. The 15th century work bought by Janssen “is one of the grandest Books of Hours in existence,” he says.’
Great works of art sold at TEFAF
‘A vibrant portrait of a child painted by Vincent Van Gogh during a brief, uncharacteristically happy, period in the last weeks of his life was sold to a private collector by Dickinson of London and New York at TEFAF 2008. The Child with an Orange (L’Enfant àl’Orange) depicts Raoul Levert, the baby son of the village carpenter in Auvers-sur-Oises, where Van Gogh was living. The painting, on the market for the first time in more than 90 years, had an asking price of more than $30 million.’
Museum buying at TEFAF
‘He [Dr Eike Schmidt, Curator of Decorative Arts and Sculpture at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts] went to the galleries of dealers who just might have sculptures that they were saving to take to Maastricht in March. Schmidt wanted to build up the MIA’s holdings in Spanish Baroque polychrome sculpture. To his delight, he discovered a collection of them at the London picture dealer Matthiesen. The works were being held back for the Fair. Schmidt, therefore, had time to study the sculptures carefully at the gallery in London……. The minute the 2011 Fair’s preview opened, Schmidt and the museum’s Director rushed to Matthiessen’s stand and reserved the sculptures he had selected immediately. As they were completing the transaction, the director and curators of another American museum turned up. They were after exactly the same pieces.’
The importance of academia – vetting
‘Everything on public display on the stands is checked. [Professor Dr Henk] Van Os [Chairman of Vetting for the antiques sections of TEFAF] remembers the occasion on which a picture dealer used an antique table to keep his catalogues on. The furniture vetters duly turned up, pronounced it not up to standard and had it removed and stowed away in a locked storage room. The exhibitor was not pleased by their decision and pointed out that he was not trying to sell the table but the vetters stood their ground and said that it was an antique on show at the fair. Eventually a compromise was reached. The dealer agreed to put a cloth over the table so that it was hidden from the sight of visitors and the vetters decided that this was sufficient to protect the reputation of TEFAF.’
Behind the scenes at TEFAF
‘The MECC’s transition from an empty space begins four weeks before TEFAF opens when its own staff and outside contractors spend a week and a half getting it ready for Stabilo, the specialist standbuilders from Eindhoven. Ten days before the exhibitors and their works of art arrive, a 300-strong team from Stabilo……starts work. The first stage involves laying 30,000 square metres of carpet and installing 1,500 cables supporting the ceiling of the Fair. It takes a fleet of 160 trucks to bring in huge quantities of pre-fabricated wood for the walls and ceiling – 25,000 square metres for the latter alone. About 8,000 metres of fluorescent lighting and more than 6,000 halogen bulbs are added as the team works around the clock drinking 30,000 cups of coffee in the run-up to TEFAF.’
The next generation
‘New York-based financier Jim Hedges, who offers investment capital to artists, galleries and collectors, is typical of the new breed of buyers that considers Maastricht an essential port of call. His assessment is unreserved. “TEFAF is a success because of one thing: not the location, not the buzz and who attends, nor the educational tours, and the sponsorship parties,” says the 44-year-old. “It is a success because the finest quality galleries show the best material of any fair in the world”.’
The challenges of the next 25 years
‘Despite its extraordinary progress over the past 25 years, the challenges facing TEFAF over the next quarter of a century are considerable. The most immediate clouds on the horizon are those created by the world’s current economic difficulties…. In the years to come TEFAF’s exhibitors will have to be at their most resourceful and knowledgeable to replenish their stock for the Fair. Another challenge for TEFAF and the wider art market is that the way that some people are collecting has altered.’
