Opening Sales TEFAF New York 2025

Name: WHITE Digital Agency
Price range: $

May 10, 2025

May8 TNY25 Drillhall Jitske Nap 009 — Photo by Jitske Nap; Courtesy of TEFAF.

Art World Turns Out in Force as TEFAF New York Kicks Off with Momentum

(New York) May 10, 2025 – A lively crowd descended on the historic Park Avenue Armory on Thursday, marking the opening of TEFAF New York, boasting more than an 11% increase in attendance from the previous year’s edition. The fair’s eleventh edition kicked off on Thursday, May 8, with an invite-only Preview Day, followed by a public opening on Friday, May 9. The just over 90 international exhibitors, including thirteen new galleries, welcomed visitors with exceptional works on view from modern and contemporary art, antiquities, jewelry, and design objects. Collectors and private and institutional curators arrived ready to buy, driving robust sales throughout the opening days.

ATTENDEES

Notable VIP guests included Josh Baer, Anthony Baratta, Renée Belfer, Derek Blasberg, Michael Bloomberg, Athena Calderone, Jesse Carrier, Leandra Medine Cohen, Caro Daur, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Jamie Drake, Thom Filicia, Marina Kellen French, David Geffen, Jacques Grange, Audrey Gruss, Martin Gruss, Carolina Herrera, Tony Ingrao, Marc Jacobs, Celerie Kemble, Randy Kemper, Reed Krakoff, Marie-Josée Kravis, Steve Martin, Brian McCarthy, David Netto, Jamie Niven, Ashley Olsen, Young Paris, Rodman Primack, Kathy Rayner, James Reginato, Charles Riva, Whitney Robinson, Andrew Roosevelt, Tom Scheerer, Larry Tisch, Laurie Tisch, Emily Weiss, and Bunny Williams.

This year’s Collectors Preview also welcomed over 70 museum representatives, including directors and curators with an impressive range of focus areas, including textiles, fashion, Egyptian art, conservation, and architecture and design. Among these representatives were Niv Allon (Metropolitan Museum of Art), David Barquist (Philadelphia Museum of Art), Joseph Becker (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), Silvia Karman Cubina (Bass Museum), Philipp Demandt (Städel Museum), Martina Droth (Yale Center for British Art), Vivien Greene, (The Guggenheim), Max Hollein (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Wendy Kaplan (Los Angeles County Museum of Art), Guillaume Kientz (Hispanic Society of America), Glenn Lowry (Museum of Modern Art), Katherine Luber (Minneapolis Institute of Art), Kate Market (Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens), Jessica Morgan (Dia Art Foundation), Lisa Pilosi (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Axel Rüger (The Frick Collection), Tanja Hwang (Museum of Modern Art), Rein Wolfs (Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), and Christopher Wilk (Victoria and Albert Museum).

EARLY SALES

Collectors did not stray from high price tags, as new exhibitors received positive attention from New York’s well-heeled art community—David Aaron (Stand 212) sold The Hultmark Horus, a bronze sculpture, for nearly $700,000 to a private buyer within the first hour of the fair. Lee Bontecou’s Untitled (1959) sold in the range of $2 million at Marc Selwyn Fine Art/Ortuzar (Stand 104). Marc Selwyn Fine Art/Ortuzar also saw strong institutional interest in the large Lee Bontecou sculpture that is the centerpiece of their booth. First-time participant Richard Saltoun (Stand 205) sold Peter Collingwood’s Macrogauze M.84, No. 11 (1984) and Yvonne Pacanovsky Bobrowicz’s Cosmic Series (2000). Enduring TEFAF mainstays also saw success during the opening. David Tunick (Stand 371) sold Paul Cézanne’s remarkable double-sided portrait drawing of the artist’s only son for six figures, titled Three Portraits of Paul and studies after Pedro de Moya and Tintoretto (recto) Portrait of Paul and Studies (verso), (c. 1879-1880). “It's been an extremely busy opening for this year, perhaps even more so than last year, and as we'd expect from TEFAF attendees, we're meeting with extremely sophisticated and informed collectors. Having a solo focus on Daniel Richter's new paintings has elicited a very positive response, reflected in collectors' swift decisions to buy. In the first couple of hours, we had sold most of the works on our booth,” commented Thaddaeus Ropac, of Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (Stand 345). Daniel Richter’s oil on canvas, sperlingskleine WEISE (2024) and Triumpf des Höhnischen were among the works sold from their booth, each priced at over $470,000. Solo presentations proved to be a compelling way to demonstrate an artist’s oeuvre and drive sales. On the fair's opening day, David Zwirner (Stand 347) sold four sculptures priced between $320,000–2.8 million and six works on paper priced between $50,000–160,000 from its focused booth of works by Ruth Asawa. Gladstone Gallery (Stand 344) sold more than 45 of George Condo’s drawings for $15,000–150,000 to American clients and international collectors visiting the fair. From its solo booth of Anne Imhof, Sprüth Magers (Stand 306) sold three pencil on paper works for between $11,000-33,000, and a bronze cast for more than $280,000.
In addition, Anna Weyant's presentation of new paintings created especially for the fair sold out at Gagosian (Stand 350). Leon Tovar (Stand 366) had a successful opening, including the sale of two mixed media works on paper by Emma Reyes, Flor (1976) and White Poppy (1979). Cardi (Stand 341) sold Piero Manzoni’s Achrome (1962) to an American collector for more than $330,000, Agostino Bonalumi’s Bianco (1989) for an asking price of $120,000, Davide Balliano’s UNTITLED_0305 (2024) and UNTITLED_0302 (2024) for an asking price of $35,000 each; and Mimmo Rotella’s Giallo-bianco-nero (1980) and Blank Demi Frame (1980-1981) for $55,000 each. Sales highlights at Lisson Gallery (Stand 342) included Sean Scully’s Wall Tappan Deep Red (2025) for $500,000; Dalton Paula’s Zacimba Gaba (2025) for $200,000; Kelly Akashi’s Be Me (A Thousand Flowers), 2021 for $50,000; and Olga de Amaral’s Tierra y fibra 3 (1988). White Cube (Stand 355) sold Tracey Emin’s You please me (2022) for nearly $400,000, Julie Mehretu’s color aquatint etchings titled Six Bardos: Hymn (Behind the Sun) (2018) for $250,000, and Ed Ruscha’s acrylic on canvas Brave Men Study I (1995). An American collector purchased a work on paper by Henry Moore titled Women Winding Wool (1948) from Osbourne Samuel (Stand 360), who also sold Ben Nicholson’s 1940 (Painting) (1940). A private collector brought home a set of 20 small works on paper by Jean Dubuffet from a series of vignettes the artist made for his daughter in 1983 from Waddington Custot (Stand 316). Waddington Custot also sold a watercolor painting by Bernard Boutet de Monvel, Fortieth street depuis le Radiator Building (1932), and a bronze work by Barry Flanagan. Almine Rech (Stand 322) saw interest across its diverse presentation, with sales of works by Ali Cherri, Dylan Solomon Kraus, Marie Laurencin, Ines Longevial, Pablo Picasso, Chloe Wise, and Zio Ziegler. A trademark of TEFAF NY is the intersection of modern and contemporary art with design and jewelry, and early sales rose in those categories as well. Friedman Benda (Stand 325) sold Squid Chair with Desk, a unique work made by Wendell Castle in 1966, and Galerie Chastel-Maréchal (Stand 318) sold a living room set (circa 1952) by Jean Royère and Guy De Rougemont’s Nuage (Cloud) coffee table (circa 1970). Specializing in jewelry made and designed by painters, sculptors, architects and designers, Didier Ltd (Stand 105) sold a high carat gold pendant medallion decorated in sunken relief with a rampant bull produced by Pablo Picasso, in collaboration with the artist’s dentist Dr. Philippe Châtaignier, and a textured gold pendant decorated in a sunken relief with red enamel bird by Georges Braque.

PROGRAMMING
Beyond exhibitor stands in the 55,000 square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall and period rooms, TEFAF New York offers an engaging program roster, including TEFAF Talks and TEFAF Meet the Experts conversations, included in fair admission. For a full schedule, please visit tefaf.com.

The opening celebration on Thursday, May 8, also included The Society of Memorial Sloan Kettering TEFAF Opening Night Benefit, which raised funds to support patient care, research, and education programs at Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Cancer Center.

ABOUT TEFAF
TEFAF is a not-for-profit foundation that champions expertise, excellence, and diversity in the global art community. This is evidenced by the exhibitors selected for its two fairs, which occur annually in Maastricht and New York. TEFAF is an expert guide for private and institutional collectors, inspiring art lovers and buyers everywhere. The next TEFAF Maastricht will be held at the MECC Maastricht March 14-19, 2026, with invite-only preview days on March 12 and 13.

ABOUT TEFAF NEW YORK
TEFAF New York was founded in early 2016, initially as two annual art fairs in New York at the Park Avenue Armory. Today, TEFAF New York is one singular annual fair that encapsulates modern and contemporary art, jewelry, antiquities, and design, featuring around 90 leading exhibitors from around the globe. Tom Postma Design, celebrated for its work with leading museums, galleries, and art fairs, is responsible for the fair’s innovative design, which has reimagined the spectacular spaces at the historic Park Avenue Armory, giving them a lighter, contemporary look and feel.

ABOUT TEFAF MAASTRICHT
TEFAF Maastricht is widely regarded as the world’s premier fair for fine art, antiques, and design, covering 7,000 years of art history, from ancient to contemporary. Featuring over 270 prestigious dealers from some 22 countries, TEFAF Maastricht is a showcase for the finest artworks currently on the market. Alongside the traditional areas of Old Master paintings, antiques, and classical antiquities that cover approximately half of the fair, you can also find modern and contemporary art, photography, jewelry, 20th-century design, and works on paper.

ABOUT AXA XL

Global Lead Partner
AXA XL Insurance is the P&C (Property & Casualty) and specialty risk division of AXA, known for solving even the most complex risks. AXA XL offers traditional and innovative insurance solutions and services in over 200 countries and territories. As part of its speciality risk offering, AXA XL protects a range of objects, including fine art, antiquities, antiques, jewelry, watches, classic cars, raw and polished gemstones, and bullion, from thousands of years to weeks old. Over the past 50 years and well into the future, AXA XL, a leading global insurer of fine art and specie, has and will continue to redefine how it serves and services its collector, museum, corporate, gallery, conservator, and artist clients across Europe, the UK, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific region, with a sincere consideration for the way valuable objects are insured and cultural patrimony is protected.

ABOUT BANK OF AMERICA

Lead Partner of TEFAF New York
Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 69 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 3,700 retail financial centers, approximately 15,000 ATMs (automated teller machines) and award-winning digital banking with approximately 58 million verified digital users. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 4 million small business households through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations across the United States, its territories and more than 35 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BAC).

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TEFAF New York

Opening Hours
May 8 by invitation only
Friday, May 9 – Monday, May 12 | 11 AM – 7 PM
Tuesday, May 13 | 11 AM – 6 PM

Ticket Info
$60 One day single entry
$80 Multiple entry
$25 Students

For further information, please visit our website

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