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TEFAF Maastricht 2013 closed on Sunday March 24th.  During the course of the event, which ran from 15th-24^th, March, more than 70.000 visitors from all over the world came to the Fair including some of the most active international private and institutional collectors from around the globe. Sales throughout the Fair were strong and reflected the findings of the TEFAF Art Market Report, which stated that, ‘Economic dynamics and political uncertainties have produced volatility in many asset markets with a “flight to safety” and premium on blue-chip stocks and low risk assets.  A similar picture has emerged for art, with the heaviest buying and best performance concentrated at the high end of the market for the best-known artists’.

Sales took place throughout the Fair from the first day to the last.  Towards the end of the Fair, Koetser Gallery, Zurich (stand 340) was delighted to report the sale of Alexander and Roxanna, oil on panel, by Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640).

Ben Janssens, Chairman of the Executive Committee said, ‘It is gratifying that despite the economic downturn, sales, particularly for the best pieces here, have been strong.  The reputation of TEFAF Maastricht as the best Fair in the world is supported by the level of business achieved here in 2013.  From this very strong base we feel confident to explore the exciting prospect of launching TEFAF Beijing in 2014’.

TEFAF 2013 was delighted to welcome many representatives from over 220 museums. The list of museums that sent delegates to the Fair ranged from small regional museums to major international institutions and included the Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore who purchased a pottery figure of a hare, Han dynasty (206 B.C. – 220 A.D.) at Ben Janssens Oriental Art, The Metropolitan Museum, New York; Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Louvre, Paris.  Even more museum purchases are expected to be confirmed in the coming weeks and months.  Wim Pijbes, Director of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, commented, ’Even the most indulged museum director will see things at TEFAF that are so unique that surprising purchases can be made’.

The marketing and media operation behind TEFAF Maastricht is an integral part of its success.  During the course of the Fair, more than 500 members of the press from over 20 different countries from all over Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia registered at the TEFAF Press Office.

TEFAF Showcase was founded in 2008, to give young dealers the opportunity to exhibit at a major international event on a once-only basis.  Sinai & Sons were one of the Showcase exhibitors at the 2013 Fair.  Raphael Sinai said, ‘We have very much enjoyed the experience of exhibiting at TEFAF Showcase.  It has enabled us to show our eclectic mix of late 19^th-and early 20^th-century European and Asian works of art to a new audience of international private and institutional collectors’. 

Dr Ulrich Guntram, AXA Art’s Global CEO said. ‘Once again TEFAF outperformed in engaging art lovers and connoisseurs with best-in-class offerings in fine art, antiques and historical objects.  We look forward with great anticipation to the Fair’s next edition’.

Former TEFAF Showcase exhibitor, Didier, who specialises in jewellery by post-war painters and sculptors, was this year invited to exhibit in TEFAF Design.  Willem, Baron van Dedem, President of the TEFAF Board of Trustees bought three pieces from the new exhibitor and commented, ‘Didier is an excellent addition to the Fair, the concept of jewellery designed by well-known artists is perfect for TEFAF’. 

Martin Clist, Director of Rossi & Rossi specialists in Tibetan and South East Asian Art, returning to the TEFAF after eighteen years, commented, ‘We are very pleased to be back exhibiting at TEFAF.  We have seen important museums and individuals every day; the Fair also gives us the chance to meet up with our fellow dealers and peers and to knit up the threads of business relationships and friendships in a way that is not possible elsewhere’.

The loan exhibition of Van Gogh’s drawings: Masterpieces from the Van Gogh Museum, which could be viewed in TEFAF Paper, was supported by AXA Art.  Axel Rüger, Director of the Van Gogh Museum, said, ‘TEFAF is the place to see countless rare works of art, and our eighteen seldom-exhibited drawings by Vincent van Gogh fit seamlessly among them.  In this unique, and for us new environment, the interest in art is abundantly clear.  It is fantastic that the quality of the drawings is so appreciated by the interested and informed visitors’.

TEFAF Maastricht 2014 will take place from 14-23 March at the MECC Maastricht. 

22nd March 2013 – Sales continued throughout the Fair at TEFAF Maastricht 2013. Exhibitors observed that it was the best objects that found buyers most readily – reflecting the trend reported in the wider international market.

In TEFAF paintings, many observed that the standard of pictures was particularly high in 2013 putting a lie to the oft reported notion that the Old Master market is in its death throes. Dealers went out of their way to bring fresh, privately sourced stock to the Fair. Works bought at auction where exhibitors added value through research, restoration and sometimes reattribution also had no difficulty finding buyers.

Otto Naumann reported the sale of a vibrant large-scale work by Carlo Marrata (1625-1713), entitled The Birth of the Virgin, which had the asking price of $4.9 million. Jack Kilgore & Co was delighted to sell A Woman Tuning a Lute by the Dutch Caravaggist painter, Gerrit Hermansz. Van Honthorst (1592-1656) to a North American museum. A beautifully, fluid painting depicting Cleopatra with the asp by Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734) was sold Jean-Luc Baroni.

TEFAF Modern also saw some lively buying. Marlborough Galleries exhibited, amongst others, the work of Manolo Valdés in the hope of further building the market for this exuberant New York based Spanish artist in Europe and were pleased to sell three major works to separate collectors: Dama, 2012, oil on burlap; Retrato en blanco y rojo, 2012, oil on burlap and Infanta, VI, 2012 a unique sculpture in alabaster.

Von Bartha reported meeting a number of high net worth and ultra high net worth individuals at TEFAF 2013 and reported healthy sales including one of the most well-known drawings by Roberto Matta (b. 1938), Nerf-cerfs volants, and an iconic work by Gerhard von Graevenitz (1935-1983) Weisse konkave Elipse auf schwartz, 1971 and 1973, which sold to an important private Swiss collector. Kukje Gallery reported strong sales including an untitled work made from Murano glass and steel in 2011 by Jean-Michel Othoniel (b. 1964).

Jewellery performed well at TEFAF in 2013, with works by René Lalique proving exceptionally popular. Lalique was once described by the famous businessman and art collector Gulbenkian as, “…he (Lalique) ranks amongst the greatest figures in the history of art of all time, and his masterful touch, as well as his exquisite imagination, will excite the admiration of future cognoscenti…”. Wartski sold an extraordinary gold, enamel and gem-set necklace by Lalique consisting of four separate panels formed from intertwining damselflies to a new private collector: the necklace had an asking price of €1.3 million.

Hancocks sold an exceptional Lalique brooch made from yellow gold, enamel and old cut diamonds in the form of two Papillon de Nuit in flight with their wings open from 1907, which had an asking price of $1 million. Epoque Fine Jewels sold a plique-à-jour enamel, aquarmarine and diamond pendant in the shape of four dragonflies by Lalique from 1903 to a European collector and A. Aardewerk Antiquair Jeweller also reported selling a number of pieces by the Art Nouveau master.

Nomos were delighted to sell the Trinity medal (Moritz-Pfennig). The medal was made in 1544 during the Reformation by Hans Reinhart the Elder (c. 1510-1581) in Leipzigfor Maurice, Duke (1541-1547) and Elector (1574-1553) of Saxony during. The medal is regarded as Reinhart’s greatest medal as well as being one of the most important medals of the German Renaissance. It sold to a German private collector and had an asking price of €245K. Kunstkammer Georg Laue sold a wonderful fruitwood carved sculpture of Chronos, from circle of Balthasar Permoser to a private New York collector. 

Asian art dealers Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art sold a number of pieces to Chinese collectors including a massive sacrificial blue bottle vase, Tianquping – Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735) and an 18th-century carved bamboo brush pot, inscribed and signed by one of the most celebrated artists of this time, Gu Jue. Both pieces had an asking price in the region of €1m.

First time exhibitors to the Fair, Yufuku Gallery were delighted to report that The gallery sold 90 per cent of the objects on their stand in the first four days and were hopeful of selling everything they had brought to TEFAF by the end of the Fair.

TEFAF Maastricht 2013 continues at the MECC Maastricht until March 24^th, 2013.

Maastricht, 17 March 2013 -  9,197 guests from all over Europe and beyond braved icy conditions and disrupted transport to attend the Private View at TEFAF Maastricht on March 14th.  Early sales were strong and masterpieces were bought by both private collectors and museum buyers with many other items being reserved for consideration.  Sales continued on the first public days of the Fair. TEFAF Maastricht continues until March 24, 2013.

Dr. Clare McAndrew, author of TEFAF Art Market Report 2013, presented the report at the TEFAF Art Symposium, Rising Stars of the Art World on Friday March 15th.  The report, which examined the global art market with a focus on China and Brazil, referred to a highly polarised market with the heaviest buying and best performance concentrated at the high end of the market for the best-known artists.  Early sales at TEFAF confirmed this trend with a number of important objects being sold at the Private View and on the first public day.

During the Private View the Director of museum The Mauritshuis announced that it had acquired the earliest known easel painting by Paul Bril (c. 1554-1626), Mountainous Landscape with Saint Jerome (1592), oil on copper, from Dutch Old Master specialist Johnny Van Haeften (304). Van Haeften was also delighted to sell one of the highlights from his stand The Meeting of Odysseus and Nausicaa, a wonderfully exuberant tour de force by Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678), which had an asking price of £4.2 million.

Sales in TEFAF Modern were also strong with Patric Derom Gallery, Brussels, (stand 447) selling René Magritte’s Le Miroir invisible, gouache on paper, 1942, while Van der Weghe Fine Art, New York (stand 522) sold a number of pictures including Homme au Chapeau, 1964, oil and ripolin on canvas by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) which was bought by well-known collector Ronald Lauder and a major work mixed media work by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) from 1962, entitled The Den.

TEFAF Antiques is not only the largest section of the Fair but regarded by many as its treasure house.  Paris dealer, J. Kugel (stand 200) sold an extraordinary silver vase representing Neptune taming the waves and the triumph of Galatea made for the Duke of Luynes by Antoine Vechte in 1843.  The piece was purchased for the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam through the generosity of a Dutch private collector.  A marble sculpture by Jean-Baptist Carpeaux (1817-1875), signed and dated, 1874, was sold by Daniel Katz, London (stand 100) to a private English collector. 

Ben Janssens Oriental Art, London (stand 202) reported a very strong start to the Fair selling a significant number of items to both new and established collectors including the centrepiece of his stand, an important Chinese bronze vessel, Fanghu from the Warring states period to early Western Han dynasty, 4th-3rd century BC, which sold to a European private collector for €300K.   An exceptionally rare and fine gem set agate and gold mounted nécessaire cabinet with inset watch made by Thomas Grant of London in 1760 as a gift for the Chinese Imperial Court was sold by Somlo Antiques, London to a Chinese collector.

TEFAF gives online collecting advice
TEFAF organises Twitter consult to give art lovers from around the world online advice on building their art collection. TEFAF’s principal sponsor AXA ART, represented by art expert Jonathan Levy, will answer questions posted on Twitter (@TEFAF) using #tefafconsult. The Twitter consult is scheduled during the Fair on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday from 10.00 to 10.30hrs.  Each day has its own topic, which will be announced on Twitter 24 hours in advance.

TEFAF Maastricht continues at the MECC Maastricht until March 24, 2013.

Maastricht, 14 March 2013. TEFAF Maastricht opens to the public on Friday 15th March 2013. The offering of fine and decorative arts is impressive as ever – the fair is full of the rare, the beautiful, the important and the recently discovered. TEFAF Maastricht takes place from 15-24 March 2013 at the MECC Maastricht.

Meeting of Masterpieces

One of the highlights presented by Johnny van Haeften (stand 304), is a magnificent, oil-on-canvas representation of the meeting of Nausicaa and Odysseus by Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678). The study for this composition - a cartoon for a tapestry, which was never executed - can be found on the stand of Jean-Luc Baroni (stand 382). The two works have been united at the Fair for the first time in many centuries.

Highlights of modern art

TEFAF has a reputation for exhibiting major works by leading 20th-century artists, such as a charming portrait 'Le Chasseur' by Chaim Soutine (1893-1943) from 1928 with Landau Fine Art (stand 414). Applicat-Prazan (stand 442) is exhibiting a seminal work by Jean Dubuffet, a large-scale collage on canvas entitled 'Site Urbain' of 1962, one of the earliest works from his Hourloupe period. Van de Weghe Fine Art (stand 522) is showing 'The Den', a mixed media collage on board by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), from 1990-1996.

Treasure house

The Antiques section offers an extraordinary overview of decorative arts. Galerie Perrin (stand 104) is offering an elegant bureau plat made by Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806) that was formerly in the collection of Prince Murat, a title created for the brother-in-law of Emperor Napoleon I. A highlight of Gisèle Croës (stand 133) is a large archaic bronze vessel, called a Lei, with openwork crown, made in the Spring/Autumn period (770/4818 BC).

Design from around the world

Galerie DOWNTOWN François Laffanour (stand 605) will show a unique bookcase from 1966, and an irregular hexagonal table from 1949 by Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999). The table stood in Perriand's flat in Rio de Janeiro. Sebastian + Barquet (stand 610) is devoting their stand to an exhibition of works by the renowned American designer George Nakashima (1905-1990).

Maastricht, 14 March 2013. The seemingly unstoppable growth of the Chinese art and antiques market came to a halt as it shrank by almost a quarter during 2012 enabling the United States to resume its traditional place as the world’s biggest market, reveals a report published tomorrow (Thursday 14 March). The TEFAF Art Market Report 2013 - The Global Art Market with a focus on China and Brazil also shows that amid slowing growth and continuing uncertainty in the global economy, the worldwide market in art and antiques contracted by 7% to €43 billion in 2012. The report says that many art buyers are minimising risk by opting for the best-known artists at the top end of the market with Post-War and Contemporary Art performing strongly.

The report has been compiled by Dr Clare McAndrew, a cultural economist specialising in the fine and decorative art market and founder of Arts Economics. It has been commissioned by The European Fine Art Foundation, organisers of The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) , which opens to the public in the Dutch city of Maastricht on Friday (15 March) and continues until 24 March at the MECC (Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre). TEFAF Maastricht, the world’s leading event of its kind, is renowned for its commitment to excellence, expertise and elegance. It is the Fair that defines excellence in art.

In 2011 China became the world’s principal market for art and antiques for the first time with sales soaring to 30% of the global total but slipped back dramatically in 2012. The TEFAF Art Market Report says: “The Chinese art market began to decelerate for the first time in three years with aggregate sales values dropping by 24% to €10.6 billion, reverting to second place behind the US in terms of global market share. The main reasons for the deceleration in growth were both demand factors (including a slowdown in economic growth and continuing liquidity constraints) and a reduced amount of high quality, high priced works coming onto the market. Many art funds and other speculative investors also reduced their participation in the market during the year.”

The report has also undertaken the first-ever in-depth study of the art market in Brazil, one of the world’s key emerging economies. Sales in the Brazilian art market in 2012 were an estimated €455 million, about 1% of the global total. Brazil’s principal significance has been through the buying power of its growing number of wealthy collectors. But restrictive tax and import regulations remain a major stumbling block to the international development of the Brazilian art market.

The principal findings of the report are:

■ Slowing economic growth and continuing uncertainty in the global economy filtered down to the art market in 2012 with global sales contracting by 7% from €46.4 to €43 billion.

■ A key factor in the decline was a slowdown in the Chinese market. Auction sales in China, the main engine of growth, dropped by 30% in 2012.

■ However the decline in China was counterbalanced by an increase of 5% in US sales figures to €14.2 billion.

■ The global reshuffle of art market share continued in 2012 with the US regaining its premier position with 33% (up 4% on 2011) while China dropped to 25% (down 5%). The United Kingdom remained third with 23% (up 1%) .

■ Economic and political uncertainties have produced volatility in many asset markets with a flight to safe blue-chip stocks and low risk assets. A similar picture has emerged for art with the strongest performances recorded by well-known artists at the top end of the market.

■ Post-War and Contemporary Art was the largest fine art sector of the market with a 43% share by value. It performed strongly, increasing auction sales by 5% to almost €4.5 billion, its highest ever recorded level.

■ The Modern Art sector was the second largest with a 30% share of the fine art auction market but, after peaking at €3.8 billion in 2011, auction sales dropped by 17% to €3.2 billion in 2012.

■ Sales in the private retail and dealer sector dropped by 4% to an estimated total of €22.2 billion. Like auctions, segments of the market fared differently with the lower end of the market recording the weakest performance.

■ The volume of transactions in the global art market in 2012 decreased by just under 4% to 35.5 million. This was down by nearly 30% on the pre-recession boom year of 2007.

Dr McAndrew will present the findings of her report at the second TEFAF Art Symposium on Friday 15 March. The 2013 event entitled Rising stars in the art world. Emerging markets and top performing artists will take place from 10.00 to 11.45 hrs in room 2.1 of the MECC (Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre). For more information and registration please see www.tefafartnews.com .

Copies of the report at €20 each excluding postage, can be ordered through the TEFAF website www.tefaf.com.

The TEFAF Art Symposium 2013 will be held on Friday March 15th. Following the successful introduction of the Art Symposium at TEFAF last year, artists, collectors and art market experts will take part in the 2013 event entitled Rising Stars in the Art World: Emerging Markets and Top-Performing Artists.

The symposium will start with a review of the global art market during 2012 and highlight the two very different emerging markets of China and Brazil. It will look at their development over the last few years, focusing on why each market has come to global attention. Arts economist Dr Clare McAndrew will  present the findings of the latest TEFAF Art Market Report on these issues, which will be launched in March 2013. The second theme will be 'Top performing artists: why they dominate the market and how they continue to do so'. This will be introduced by an artist and a collector and further discussed by a panel.

More information and registration: www.tefafartnews.com

The Worcester Art Museum in the United States and the Ashmolean Museum in the United Kingdom are to receive grants from the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund to help them carry out important conservation projects.

The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford is to carry out a conservation project on two candelabra by the Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778). The Worcester Art Museum in Worcester, Massachusetts is to restore a pair of portraits by the 18th century British artist William Hogarth.

The Fund was set up by TEFAF Maastricht, as one of its 2012 Silver Jubilee initiatives and provides up to €50,000 each year to help institutions around the world conserve works of art in their collections. A panel of independent, international experts considered many applications from museums before selecting the two winning projects, which will each receive €25,000.

For more information on the Fund and these projects go to the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund page.  

Not Available

In September 2012 Prince and Princesse Mourousy gave a wonderful dinner party in their Parisian residence for friends of Prince George Yourievsky and Henry Blundell to celebrate their recently launched new company MasterArt.com, a high end online art dealer  platform and guide. The international art and antiques fair TEFAF Maastricht, represented by Board member Michel Cox Witmer from New York, Gaëlle de Bernède and Titia Vellenga, was presented during the dinner.

This year TEFAF is celebrating its 25th anniversary and dealers at TEFAF pulled out all the stops to put on a magnificent display of works of art. Their optimism was vindicated, despite the difficult economic backdrop. Sales were strong from the moment TEFAF opened its doors at the preview on Thursday March 15th and continued throughout the first week.

Jean-Luc Baroni, London, a TEFAF veteran, reported an extraordinary Fair. He commented on the number of new buyers he met on his stand – reflecting a feeling elsewhere in the Fair that TEFAF was attracting completely new buyers, including many Russians, to the market. Amongst his sales was a remarkable painting by Mattias Stomer (1600-1652), A Woman Counting Coins by the Light of an Oil Lamp. Stomer spent much of his career in Italy and was profoundly influenced by Caravaggio and Jusepe Ribera but the picture sold at TEFFAF shows a considerably more Northern character, which suggest a greater proximity to the realism an earthiness of the Utrecht school of Caravaggist painters. Another long-standing TEFAF exhibitor, Richard Green, London also reported a strong Fair and sales included Still life of a blackberry pie, a nautilus cup, a salt cellar, a façon-de-Venise flute, a silver ewer and pewterplates on a partly-draped table, oil on panel , painted c. 1645-49 by Willem Claesz Heda. It is thought that with this still life and others like it, Heda intended to offer an intriguing image of objects that do not only look deceivingly real, but that make the viewer pause, consider and appreciate them whereas in daily life they may have remained unnoticed.

TEFAF Antiques is the largest section of the Fair and sales in this area also seemed buoyant. Sales of antique furniture were strong. Pelham Galleries, Paris, had a number of sales for six figure sums including a very fine Louis XVI tulipwood , aramanth and gilt bronze mounted commode by Jean-François Leleu. Leleu was an important late 18th-century ėbėniste, who is regarded as instrumental in the move away from the rococo taste of Louis XV towards the fully developed neo-classicism of Louis XVI’s reign. Salomon Stodel Antiquitės, Amsterdam reported the sale of a Russian marquetry card table, St. Petersburg c. 1800 to a European collector whilst Mallett, London and New York, counted an Anglo-Indian solid ivory chair, c. 1850 amongst its sales to an international client for a sum close to the asking price of €95,000. H. Blairman & Sons Ltd, London was happy to report a number of sales to museums including a bronze panel from the Holland Memorial Screen designed by Thomas Jeckyll, 1871.

Littleton & Hennessy, London and New York, told of many sales including that of a pair of early 18th-century carved wood, lacquer and polychrome dragon panels which reputedly came from the Imperial City to a new Chinese private buyer. Galerie Meyer-Oceanic Art , Paris sold of one of its catalogue pieces, a 19th-century dance wand in the form of a stylized club terminating with a human head from Papua New Guinea while Longari Arte, Milan also sold their catalogue piece – a carved polychrome and giltwood sculpture of Christ as the Suffering Redeemer with an Angel , c. 1500 attributed to Giacomo and Giovan Angelo Dei Maino.

Museum sales were strong throughout the Fair. Aronson Antiquairs, Amsterdam sold a blue and white Delft sweet-meat dish c. 1700 to the Paleis Het Loo, Apeldoorn and Frans Jacobs, Amsterdam reported a sale to Teylers Museum, Haarlem of two signed gouache on paper works by Geer van Velde (1898-1977) executed between the late 1940s and early 1950s. Many other sales to museums have been negotiated and have started the process towards completion.

A diptych by Vik Muniz entitled The Creation of Adam, after Michelangelo attracted much attention and multiple sales on the stand of Ben Brown Fine Arts, London. The digital C-print work was created in 2011 in an edition of 6 + 4AP. The gallery was delighted by the number of new collectors it met during the course of the Fair. Galerie Thomas, Munich made significant sales including Statuette, a bronze sculpture by Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964) for €250,000 and Cavallo, a painting by Marino Marini (1901-1980) dated 1953 for €120,000.

TEFAF Showcase was introduced in 2008 to give younger dealers the opportunity of taking part in TEFAF on a one-off basis. The initiative has been as resounding success and this year another cohort of six dealers were invited to exhibit at the Fair for the first time. Guiseppe Piva, Milan as specialist in Japanese objet dart and samurai weaponry was delighted to sell a piece of early 18th-century samurai armour of tachi-dô style to a Japanese collector. Fergus Hall, London also had success with the sale of a signed, oil on canvas painting by Jan Both (1615-1652) entitled An Italianate Landscape with Travellers for €750,000.

An international line-up of experts, including investment and tax specialists, academics, a leading museum curator and a private collector will take part in a symposium on the art market, to be held on 16 March 2012 as one of the events marking TEFAF Maastricht’s Silver Jubilee.

Change and Challenges – the art market’s past 25 years and its future will examine the evolution of the market and identify the major economic, technological, cultural and demographic forces which have changed the way that art is bought and sold worldwide. It will reveal innovative approaches to sourcing, funding and displaying works of art and its influential participants will outline how the world of tomorrow will differ from today, spelling out the implications for those buying, selling and collecting art.

The symposium will be held from 09.00 to 12.00 at the MECC (Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre), where the 25th edition of TEFAF Maastricht, will take place. For more information, and to register, please go to www.tefafjubilee.com.

Renewed interest for Old Master Paintings

Every other month TEFAF brings you the latest global art market news. Dr Clare McAndrew is the author of TEFAF's latest art market report, 'The Global Art Market in 2010: Crisis and Recovery'. She is a cultural economist who specializes in the fine and decorative art market, and the founder of Arts Economics. 

Although the Old Master paintings sector has long been a favourite of curators, scholars, and long-established collectors, there are indications that this sector of the market is now seeing renewed interest from younger and more geographically diverse buyers. Younger collectors, who have been dominant in the Contemporary sector in recent years, are being increasingly impressed with the relatively low prices, good value and stability that can be found in the sector.

The volatility in many areas of the market over recent years has also produced more risk-adverse art buyers of all ages that are finding refuge in the less turbulent prices in this sector. Although few areas of the market were left unscathed from the contraction experienced in 2009, average prices of Old Master paintings fell less than 10% on aggregate versus much more severe dips of 45% and more in the Contemporary market. Many Old Master collectors report that the value of their collections has in fact never declined, and always kept pace or far exceeded inflation.

The top selling Old Master artists still command multi-million dollar prices, however there are many areas of the market with relatively low access points. Even for the top selling artists in 2010, average prices ranged from $200,000 to $10 million, while the range in values was also very wide for each artist, particularly when all media are considered. The market is driven much more than the Contemporary market by quality and scarcity however, therefore fresh to market works of the best quality always attracting the most interest.



While China has overtaken the UK in the Contemporary sector, the traditional Old Masters is a sector where Europe still dominates sales. In 2010, nearly half the value of the auction sector was sold through London, where much of the expertise and dealer network also resides.



Fig. 1 European Old Master Auction Market- Shares by Value in 2010 (Arts Economics (2011) Using data from Artnet)



Fig. 2 European Old Master Auction Market- Shares by Volume in 2010 (Arts Economics (2011) Using data from Artnet)

However, China's own master paintings have been doing remarkably well in 2011. Yuan Dynasty painter Wang Meng set an auction record of $62 million at auction at Poly International in June, the second most expensive painting ever sold in an auction in mainland China and reflecting Chinese collectors' continued and growing interest in older Chinese works. (The highest price was paid in 2010 was $64 million for a work by Song Dynasty artist, Huang Tingjian.)

One of the most important lessons coming out of the last few turbulent years in all asset markets is the need to go back to basic principles. One of the most basic fundamentals of investing is diversification: finding and combining assets that have low correlation with each other in order to obtain a portfolio risk that is less than that of the component assets considered in isolation. The diversification benefits from investing in art are found not only in portfolios that mix various financial assets with art, but also through strategically combining collecting categories within the market. Increasingly collectors looking for greater stability from their investments in art are realising that buying across categories including older and newer sectors can provide significant risk benefits.

Contrasting the performance of Old Masters versus Contemporary art reinforces the very important point that, far from being a single homogenous entity, the art market is a diverse combination of a series of distinct sub-markets, each developing at their own individual rates and with their own risks, returns and price trajectories. This has become a very attractive feature of the market for collectors and investors who want to achieve a more balanced portfolio of wealth, and a more diverse collection of art.

WHO BENEFITS from ARTISTS' RESALE RIGHTS?

Every other month TEFAF brings you the latest global art market news. Dr Clare McAndrew is the author of TEFAF's latest art market report, 'The Global Art Market in 2010: Crisis and Recovery'. She is a cultural economist who specializes in the fine and decorative art market, and the founder of Arts Economics.

Fig. 1 Loss of EU Share on Global Art Markets / 2005 to 2010

New evidence has shown that the EU has lost significant global share in the sectors of the market where ARR is applied. The presence of the right has also not had its intended effect of levelling the playing field by redistributing sales within Europe. Internally, the hierarchy of remains much as it did in 2005, with the UK as the largest art market and no signs of any permanent or significant transfer of sales to other EU art markets. In other words, the Directive has not achieved its internal goals, but has created a competitive disadvantage for Europe vis a vis international markets.

While there seems to be a clear loss to the art trade in Europe, this has to be balanced against gains from the Directive. There were around 5,000 living artists with eligible sales in the EU in 2010.



Fig. 2 Distribution of ARR Collected

Eurostat reports that there are very conservatively estimated 168,250 employed professional visual artists in the EU, indicating that only a maximum of 3% of all artists could benefit from ARR, and the gainers are exclusively those successful artists whose works make it to the resale market. The other main beneficiaries are the collecting societies who have set up to collect and distribute ARR to artists, charging commissions ranging from 12% to 30%.

Despite commitments made in the Directive, there has been no progress in reaching an international agreement on ARR, so Europe's art markets now find themselves at a significant competitive disadvantage. Although ARR is likely only one of many factors that affect where people decide to buy and sell, it does appear to have contributed to the perception that the EU is a complicated and expensive place to do business.

Its full impact will only be seen fully over the next few years, but given the growing strength of global competition, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the presence of this transaction charge, more or less unique to the EU, will only to add to the difficulties of a market already in relative decline.

Art Market Report: A New Global Landscape

New: TEFAF Art Market Update by Dr Clare McAndrew! Every other month TEFAF brings you the latest global art market news. Dr Clare McAndrew is the author of TEFAF's latest art market report, 'The Global Art Market in 2010: Crisis and Recovery'. She is a cultural economist who specializes in the fine and decorative art market, and the founder of Arts Economics.

Fig. 1 Global Art Market Share (by Value) 2006 (source: Arts Economics, 2011)

Fig. 2 Global Art Market Share (by Value) 2010 (source: Arts Economics, 2011)

 Speakers
Bertrand Lavédrine, Director of the Centre de Recherche sur la Conservation des Collections (MNHN-CNRS-MCC), Paris, France
'Preserving while exhibiting photographs: new challenges'

Gaël de Guichen, dvisor to the Director General of ICCROM, International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, Rome, Italy 'A few suggestions to protect works of art against damage caused by light'

Paul Messier, Conservator of Photographs in Private Practice, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
'Investigating photographic materials and techniques: Man Ray's Le Violon d'Ingres'

The AXA Art & CRCC Initiative on Preserving Photographs
AXA Art has awarded AXA Art Research Grant to the CRCC in Paris, to examine new means in protecting fine art photography. This AXA Art/CRCC collaboration aims to make collectors better aware of the fragile nature of photographs, and to explore possible solutions in addressing photography's unique preservation issues. A number of recommendations on elementary precautions are being made available throughout this project, enabling collectors to better safeguard their photographs.

• Crispian Riley-Smith, a specialist in Master Drawings, from North Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. He will be bringing Dutch and Flemish watercolours and drawings from the 16th to the 19th centuries to TEFAF.
• Galerie 1492 from Paris. Run by Yannick Durand, this gallery specialises in Pre-Columbian and colonial art of the Americas.
• Galerie David Ghezelbash, also from Paris, dealing in classical antiquities from Greece, Rome, Egypt and the Middle East.
• Gibson Antiques Ltd from London. Founded by Alastair Gibson, a former director of Sotheby's, the gallery specialises in Chinese ceramics and works of art.
• Galerie Sophie Scheidecker from Paris dealing in modern and contemporary art. Sophie Scheidecker has curated exhibitions in Europe and North and South America.
• Elle Shushan Fine Portrait Miniatures from Philadelphia in the United States. Elle Shushan is a leading international dealer in portrait miniatures and has contributed to several landmark publications.