TEFAF New York, which returns to the Park Avenue Armory from 4-8 May, has released a list of exhibitors for its second US edition. Unlike the fall fair—which was devoted to work from antiquity through the 19th century—the spring edition is focused on (but not limited to) Modern and contemporary art, with the tableau rounded out by design and decorative arts, Oceanic and African artefacts, and antiquities.
Under the direction of fair organizers Jeff Rabin and Michael Plummer, whose Spring Masters fair used to occupy the same time slot and venue, the overall emphasis on Modern classics suggests that they intend to compete with the city’s auctions later that month, rather than with the concurrent, more-contemporary Frieze New York (5-7 May).
Unsurprising for the Maastricht-based parent company, the list of 92 exhibitors is heavy on Europeans. It also features blue-chip heavyweights from both American coasts—David Zwirner, Berggruen Gallery, Hauser & Wirth, Richard Gray—and a large contingent of dealers in secondary-market 20th-century art, such as Applicat-Prazan, bringing postwar French paintings by Pierre Soulages and Nicolas de Staël as well as related works by Zao Wou-Ki and Wifredo Lam; and Tornabuoni Arte, offering abstractions by Enrico Castellani, Lucio Fontana, and Paolo Scheggi.
Eight participants from the fall edition will be back, including Axel Vervoordt, Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts, Bowman Sculpture, Cahn International, Charles Ede, Dickinson, Didier, and Galerie Jacques Germain.
A handful of exhibitors are relatively fresh to the New York scene, including the London-based contemporary gallery Hidde van Seggelen and the Latin masters-oriented Galeria Sur, from Punta del Este, Uruguay. Specialists in 20th-century works on paper, Wienerroither & Kohlbacher of Vienna, have previously exhibited in Master Drawings week in New York.
Design and decorative arts specialists include Dansk Møbelkunst, Carpenters Workshop, Demisch Danant, Laffanour/Galerie Downtown, and Vallois, with Art Nouveau and Bauhaus-era pieces at Yves Macaux and Oscar Graf. The tribal, Oceanic, and antiquities categories will be augmented by Tambaran Gallery, Galerie Meyer, and Daniel Ghezelbash Archéologie.
“I think it’s already a success, given the people who are participating,” says N ew York dealer Christophe Van de Weghe. “And the dates are amazing, everyone is already in town… it will be a real destination.”
Offering works by Calder, Picasso, Warhol, and Basquiat, Van de Weghe and other dealers seem poised to deliver on the demand for acknowledged masters with a proven resale record. However, with so many outlets for similar material by the same artists, the pressure will be on for dealers to source prime examples that will stand up to—and out from—their peers’ offerings.
