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TEFAF opens as art market soars By Augustus Mayhew Whether the spectacular early spring, considering last year's snowy deep freeze, or the Guido Reni oil-on-copper painting at Jean-Luc Baroni Ltd., the Damien Hirst, the recently discovered portrait of the Begum of Oudh by English painter George Duncan Beechey at Amir Mohtashemi, or the Emil Nolde watercolour at Beck & Eggeling, the aisles were filled within the first hour for The European Fine Art Fair's opening 2014 Vernissage at Maastricht. |
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On the eve of today's day-long event attended by more than 10,000 fairgoers, TEFAF's foundation released its annual market study documenting that the global €47.4 billion art and antiques market has nearly reached the same levels as the pre-recession boom years. As several hundred awaited for the gates to open at noon on Thursday, the report named Americans the world's leading buyers and ascertained the escalating values were due to rising prices for major Post-War and Contemporary artists. According to the report, the 11% growth in the value of the Post-War and Contemporary sector is attributed to the highest-ever auction sales total of €4.9 billion with a significant portion of it paid as record prices for artists such as Francis Bacon, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol. According to the report, the US had 38% of the world market. The US accounts for 42% of the world's 32 million millionaires with at least 600,000 of this global group tagged as high-level art collector members. |
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The Met, The National Gallery, Seattle Art Museum, Portland Art Museum, Los Angeles County Art Museum, and the Bruce Museum are among the US institutions whose members, directors and trustees are attending TEFAF as part of a museum-sponsored tour. Trailing the US, China's share was slightly down at 24%., although China remains the most important of all the newer markets with a turnover of €11.5 billion in 2013. Chinese paintings and calligraphy are the largest sector of the market. Non-payment by winning bidders at auction remains a persistent problem with only 56% of lots at Mainland Chinese auction houses being paid for within six months. The UK remained in third place with 20% despite a drop of 3% while the European Union also dropped by 3% to 32%. |
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"After recovering strongly in 2010, the global art market has experienced mixed performance within different sectors and between nations," says Dr. Clare McAndrew in her report for TEFAF. "Some sectors and individual businesses have reached peaks well in excess of those achieved in 2007, while others are still struggling to regain momentum." |
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Among Thursday's reported early sales, Galerie Ulrich Fiedler has placed the 1902 gilded oak Carlo Bugatti Chair designed for the Le arti decorativi internazionali del nuovo secolo' in Turin, priced at 350,000 Euros. A significant Chinese drum stand priced at 2.5 million Euros is said to have been sold at Vanderven Oriental Art. A 1st millennium BC "Amlash" spouted pottery vessel with a burnished surface attributed to the Marlik culture in the Southwestern Caspian region and tagged at 100,000 Euros has also apparently found a buyer at Galerie Kevorkian. Still available after a brisk first day, Damien Hirst's Black Sheep With Golden Horn (2009), described as a ram in formaldehyde, priced at 2.25 million Euros by Tomasso Brothers Fine Art. Here is a look around some early moments of the fair. |
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Photographs by Augustus Mayhew. Augustus Mayhew is the author of Lost in Wonderland – Reflections on Palm Beach. |