Cocooned from the world outside

Of course, not all the 203 exhibitors, from 13 countries, did well and compared to past years this staging of The European Fine Art Fair was not a vintage one. But it was not expected to be.

As I said last week, the feeling at the preview on the evening of March 13, among both exhibitors and visitors, was distinctly upbeat and it was at the packed preview and over the following weekend that most business was achieved.

This time I went to both the opening and attended on the final weekend and found that despite war and stock market crashes enthusiasm had not been dampened.

Indeed, on the penultimate day, an English dealer said to me that the war had not been mentioned by anyone visiting his stand. And proving that business can go on, if not quite as usual, a leading European dealer told me that when visitors enter this wondrous fair they are in a cocoon and events outside tend not to infiltrate. Not many fairs can claim that.

But this year the exhibitors had been canny. I would not say the overall quality was down as vetting would not allow that to happen. But there were fewer of the multi million dollar, pound or euro showstoppers that have characterised this event in the past.

The stock seemed more soberly priced and was there to be sold. Even Maastricht goes with the times.
But sold the stock was, and often for quite big money. I feel that Contemporary art did not fare as well as in the past and, although there were plenty of notable sales among the Moderns and Old Masters, this year was the one where antiques and works of art of all types came to the fore.

At the close of the fair Clemens Vanderven of the eponymous Dutch Oriental art dealers Vanderven & Vanderven, a founder member of TEFAF and used to good Maastricht sales, echoed his verdict of the first night: “There is no crisis in the Oriental art world.”

Among many other things, he sold a Kangxi Chinese bowl to an English collector for €350,000 and a set of three Palace vases to a Brazilian for €550,000.

London dealer in Chinese art Ben Janssens could not stop selling and his business was well up to the highs he has established over the years. He notched up 22 sales on the opening night and afterwards sold much in four figures and some in six, and that was the pattern of this event this time around.

London antiquities dealer James Ede had his best Maastricht to date and Philippe Denys from Brussels, whose stand was surely a contender for the most stylish of the fair, found an eager market for his post-war furniture, which he brought in preference to his usual Deco.

St James’s sculpture dealer Robert Bowman was happy with sales, which included a c.1900 bronze Rodin Kiss for around €380,000.
Possibly the piece which found most admirers among the furniture was a stunning Thomas Hope Regency bed, possibly made by the master designer for himself, which London’s Pelham Galleries sold to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for a sum in the region of $300,000. That was a sale applauded by many other dealers who had seen the piece.

Turning to pictures, Old Masters take a long time to sell and did not feel the excitement of past years in that area. Nevertheless, local boy Robert Noortman sold 15 paintings and Johnny Van Haeften from London, who has never recorded a downbeat Maastricht, again did well. From the Moderns, Salis & Vertes from Salzberg sold a Jawlensky and a Picasso to a Swiss collector.

Interestingly, this Maastricht showed there is plenty on offer and very worthwhile items in the lower price regions among the paintings.

The fair attracted 65,000 visitors, 13 per cent down on last year – for once a welcome drop since crowds were getting out of hand last year. There was the usual international buying, from South America and throughout Europe. But although there were American sales there was no doubt the American buyers were thin on the ground. And I do not think there were as many British as usual.

There is obviously much business to come from Maastricht in the coming months, but even immediately after the doors closed you can say this fair proved that even in the most dire of times it reaches the buyers that other fairs just cannot reach.