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STRONG SALES AFFIRM TEFAF’S IMPORTANCE IN INTERNATIONAL MARKETPLACEThe overall results at TEFAF Maastricht 2010 confirms the belief that the art market has remained robust during the economic crisis. The Fair’s importance to the market cannot be underestimated. This year’s TEFAF Art Market Report states that in 2009 just over 50% of all sales in the global marketplace took place in the EU and that 55% of all sales are generated by dealers. TEFAF Maastricht provides a dynamic forum attracting 263 dealers from 17 countries and collectors from around the world. The visitor figures for the 2010 Fair was 73,073, representing an increase of 7.75%.

Many international collectors travelled to the fair by private jet. Maastricht/Aachen Airport reported 171 private aircraft landing during the course of the Fair with 82 planes arriving in time for the Private View. US collectors, both private and institutional, were back in force and their re-found confidence was reflected in sales. A leading dealer also commented on the increasing importance of European collectors, who over the last decade have grown both in number and spending power, describing them as ‘knowledgeable and decisive’. 

TEFAF Maastricht is often described as a museum where everything is for sale and exhibiting dealers appreciate the fact that the Fair is taken so seriously by museums worldwide. Representatives from more than 150 museums and institutions from over 17 countries visited the Fair and museum sales and reservations were reported throughout the Fair.

The new section TEFAF on Paper was very well received. It was beautifully presented and showcased a wide range of works on paper from prints, drawings and photographs to books and Japanese screens. 
TEFAF Journal
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TEFAF Journal brings you English news about the latest developments at TEFAF. TEFAF journal was launched in 2008 by Chapeau! Magazine and L1 TV.

The show is broadcasted at the biggest hotels in Maastricht, in several public places such as the Town Hall of Maastricht, the theatre and at several locations at the Maastricht Exhibition & Congress Centre. 

TEFAF SETS AN EXAMPLE FOR EUROPE -  EUROPEAN COMMISION VICE-PRESIDENT 

TEFAF Maastricht has set an example that the rest of Europe should follow, said Neelie Kroes, Vice President of the European Commission, during a visit to what she called “the world’s leading art and antiques fair”. Ms Kroes praised the Fair on Friday 12 March 2010, the day after a record 10,500 people attended the private view where dealers reported good business.

“The European Fine Art Fair can proudly call itself the world’s leading art and antiques fair,” Ms Kroes told the Information Communications Technology Business Summit in Maastricht. “What is especially relevant to my remarks today is that TEFAF has continued to grow through the crisis. TEFAF has grown when other fairs are cutting back or shutting down.

"There are lessons here that others in Europe can copy. TEFAF adapts to its circumstances: adding new sections, changing focus, refusing to be complacent. TEFAF has decided: ‘The world is changing, so we are changing too’."

The success story of TEFAF, continued at the private view of the 23rd edition of the Fair. A record 10,500 invited guests attended the private view. This was an increase of 11% on 2009. Dealers reported good business. Many private and institutional collectors in all fields from around the globe visited the Fair.

The National Gallery of Art in Washington bought the newly discovered Winter Landscape with Skaters painted by Adam van Breen in 1611 from John Mitchell Fine Paintings of London for €910,000. The painting is one of the earliest known works by Van Breen.

Antiquities dealer Rupert Wace Ancient Art from London sold a Roman bronze statuette of Aphrodite wearing a silver diadem from the 1st century AD to a French private museum. Other purchases included two pieces bought by German and American institutions from Julius Böhler of Starnberg and Renaissance cutlery, sold to an American museum by Kunstkammer Georg Laue of Munich. 

How investment helped the art market weather the economic crisis

A change in luxury spending habits caused by the recession has helped the international art and antiques market weather the global economic storm. This is revealed by a new report commissioned by TEFAF. The report The International Art Market 2007-2009, Trends in the Art Trade during Global Recession has been prepared by Dr Clare McAndrew, a cultural economist specialising in the fine and decorative art market and founder of Arts Economics.
 
Wealthy buyers have been switching away from expensive cars, yachts and jets in favour of assets with long-term tangible value such as art and antiques. These ‘investments of passion’ have meant that, although the world market in art and antiques has suffered during the economic downturn, it has performed far better than expected.

“As economically recessive conditions in many countries have led to a reduction in incomes, demand for and consumption of many luxury goods has also contracted,” says the report, the latest in a series of important annual studies commissioned by TEFAF. It adds that the world financial crisis produced a drop in the number of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) – people with investable assets of at least US$1 million. Nevertheless the share of art in HNWIs-‘investments of passion’ actually rose from 20% in 2006 to 25% in 2008, as investors looked to find assets that had a more enduring value.

“The geographical distribution of wealth has also worked in favour of the art market. While most of the older Western economies are currently in recession, many of the new art markets are still showing positive growth, with China and India at rates of 9% and 6% respectively in 2009.”

The research follows a major study sponsored by TEFAF in 2007/08, The International Art Market: A Survey of Europe in a Global Context, which analysed the global art trade from a macroeconomic perspective from 2002 through 2006.

Copies of the report can be ordered at €15 each excl. postage. Order now.
Dealers' choice

During TEFAF Maastricht 2010 a new initiative will be introduced by a number of TEFAF dealers, who are keen to share their passion for art with visitors.

Every day at 4.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m. two TEFAF hostesses will take small groups of visitors (maximum fifteen) to dealers who will highlight a specific object or explain why he/she became a dealer.  Each group will visit five or six dealers in one hour.

This service to the visitors will be free of charge and offered at the end of each working day. These daily tours will take place from Friday 12 March to Saturday 20 March. Visitors may sign up for Dealers’ Choice at the information desk in the entrance hall. 
  
TEFAF on Paper – a new section AT TEFAF Maastricht 2010

The new TEFAF on Paper section at TEFAF has proved a huge attraction to international specialists in Old Master and modern drawings, limited edition prints, photography, antiquarian books and manuscripts, watercolours and Japanese prints. When TEFAF opens from 12-21 March 18 of the 19 dealers exhibiting at TEFAF on Paper will be new to the Fair. Other specialists in these fields who have been exhibiting at TEFAF for many years will remain in the existing Paintings, Drawings and Prints and TEFAF Modern sections. 

 

When TEFAF on Paper was announced as a new initiative in July 2009, the Fair’s Executive Committee said that it would only go ahead if there was sufficient support from dealers. The response was quick and positive and the new section is now full with 19 exhibitors from eight countries most of whom will be at TEFAF for the first-time. They will be housed in the upstairs hall where TEFAF successfully launched TEFAF Design at the 2009 Fair. TEFAF Design, which was a great attraction to visitors to the Fair, will move downstairs next to the TEFAF Modern section.

 

TEFAF is constantly evolving to reinforce its pre-eminent position in the international art and antiques market and TEFAF on Paper will expand the range of works that the Fair offers in a wide variety of disciplines. The addition of TEFAF on Paper is the principal reason for the record number of 260 exhibitors at the Fair in 2010. However the new section will be the final expansion of the Fair because the exhibiting space is now full.