The historic Park Avenue Armory provides the compelling back-drop for a staggering display of works of art spanning continents and millennia at TEFAF New York Fall, November 1-5, 2019. Featuring 90 of the world’s preeminent art, antiques and design dealers, the Fair presents museum-quality fine and decorative art, as well as rare books and manuscripts, jewelry, portrait miniatures, arms and armor, and much more.

TEFAF New York is widely recognized for its unique experiential approach. For the first time, historic works of art, which make up the core of TEFAF New York Fall,  will be juxtaposed with works from modern and contemporary dealers in distinctive booth collaborations, set in select historic rooms of the Armory. The booth collaborations creating a tableau for aesthetic and intellectual connections between objects and eras offering an expansive snapshot of cultural evolution, both geographically and temporally. The Fair offers discerning collectors the opportunity to view and purchase in the way many collect today – across categories, eras and genres. 

“TEFAF has long been a captivating forum for  thought-provoking experiences,” says Patrick van Maris, TEFAF’s CEO. “From our cultural programs to special loan exhibitions to the spectacular dealer stands, each year brings new opportunities to invite collectors, visitors and exhibitors to engage through their shared love of art. This year we are uniting very different collecting categories in some of the great historical rooms of the Armory, bringing forward unexpected interplay between objects. TEFAF believes this offers a unique chance to see the art historical canon through a new lens.” 

As part of this collaborative initiative, Colnaghi shares an historic room with Ben Brown Fine Arts, showcasing a rare and beautiful selection of Bronze Age ornaments, Cycladic vessels, and Classical sculptures alongside contemporary works by Fontana, Tàpies, and Barceló. The exhibition aims to evoke an eclectic atmosphere, where antiquities and contemporary works are beautifully juxtaposed. In the words of Jorge Coll, Owner and CEO of Colnaghi: “We believe that great art is timeless, and that the works that make up great collections will almost always span the ages.” This collaboration boasts an exquisitely preserved marble figure of Pan from the first half of the 1st century AD, carved as a table leg and miraculously retaining its original mount.

Another example of dynamic pairing is UK antiquities specialist Charles Ede alongside New York’s Sean Kelly contemporary art gallery. A large Hellenistic head of a man (2ndC- 1stC BC) will be shown alongside Marina Abramovic’s “Portrait with Golden Mask” (2009), “showing all are part of one great continuum,” says Martin Clist, managing director at Charles Ede.

Harmonizing Old Masters and Modern Art in a timeless conversation,

Paul Smeets will present a Booth Collaboration with Van de Weghe Fine Art. Comments Paul Smeets on their project at TEFAF New York Fall, “life’s greatest themes prove to be eternal and recurring -- artists constantly pose the same questions century after century as the expression of the dilemma of the human essence. Major questions on God, Human Nature, Identity and Emotions will be featured in fascinating “dialogues” between Sassoferrato and Basquiat or Gaulli and Picasso.”

Anne-Sophie Duval and Almine Rech will join forces to present the harmonic convergence of French Art Deco with Picasso etchings. Says Anne Sophie Duval,  “I have always admired how Almine Rech’s gallery merges French Avant Garde with contemporary art. Seeing how works by a genius like Picasso resonate with the sober style of Jean-Michel Frank is going to be an exciting experience for visitors. Like Picasso, the work of Jean Michel Frank is radical and timeless -- eliminating useless details to focus on essential forms. No fuss but still poetic. And eternally modern.”

The stand will also exhibit other great pieces such as a reverse painted glass by Etienne Cournault, an engraver and contemporary of Picasso, who collaborated with the best designers of the Art Deco period.

Objects of great rarity and beauty are part of the fabric of TEFAF and visitors can expect to see one head-turning object after another. 

A highlight with a dazzling royal history at TEFAF this year is an Imperial Faberge piece -- a one of a kind polished gold cigarette case, offered by New York based Faberge expert, A La Vieille Russie. The case was  presented as a gift to Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, and Admiral of the British Navy, in 1899 by the brothers and sisters-in-law of his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, daughter of Tsar Alexander II and sister of Tsar Alexander III on the 25th anniversary of their marriage. It bears the diamond monogram of Prince Alfred, son of Queen Victoria, as well as the Roman numeral XXV in diamonds, and a diamond-set thumbpiece. The signatures of Grand Duchess Maria's brothers and sisters-in-law are engraved on the interior. Suspended from the wick is a gold miniature Easter egg by Friedrich Koechli, presumably a later gift to Alfred and Maria. This piece came from the collection of their daughter Queen Marie of Romania.

Sculpture is a much celebrated collecting category at TEFAF New York and superb examples can be found from every major movement throughout the fair, starting at the beginning of art history. Joan Miró (1893-1983), although best known as a painter, was also passionately engaged with sculpture, exploring his favorite subjects of women, birds and figures in this medium. Galerie de La Béraudière (Stand 104) will offer Miro’s Femme Et Oiseau, Bronze, 32.5 x 25.5 x 15 cm (12.8 x 10.2 x 5.8 in.), Signed, numbered and stamped 'Miró, 2/2, Fonderie Parallada Barcelone, Barcelona - 1968.

Impressive provenance is a hallmark of TEFAF Fairs. This year, Lillian Nassau (Stand 320) will present a Unique Iron Fireplace from Laurelton Hall, wrought iron, 1882. This one-of-a-kind fireplace hood was initially located in the library of the Tiffany mansion designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Stanford White at 72nd Street and Madison Avenue in the early 1880s. The fireplace was eventually relocated by Tiffany to Laurelton Hall, his legendary country estate, which was widely considered to be Tiffany's masterpiece. After Laurelton Hall was tragically destroyed in a fire in the late 1950s, this piece entered into a private collection and has not been seen by the public since. 

More TEFAF New York Highlights can be found here. Please note that the highlights illustrated and described here have not yet been subject to vetting which takes place onsite at the Fair. 

TEFAF New York’s Cultural Programs are a perennial highlight of the fair bringing together the most eminent thought leaders and tastemakers in art, design, fashion, culture and more. The lineup of TEFAF Coffee Talks and TEFAF Afternoons To access the full list of cultural programming for TEFAF New York Fall 2019, and to register for a complimentary ticket, please visit www.tefaf.com/press.  

Artfully Dressed: Women in the Art World

TEFAF New York Fall 2019 and long-standing sponsorship partner Bank of America are pleased to present the next installment in the celebrated photographic portrait series “Artfully Dressed: Women in the Art World,” by Amsterdam-based photographer Carla van de Puttelaar. Sixty of Puttelaar’s powerful and diverse photographs will line the hallways of the first and second floors of the Park Avenue Armory. The exhibition is curated by Rachel Kaminsky, Program Director of this portrait series. Van de Puttelaar’s work celebrates the accomplishments, strength and beauty of prominent and promising women in the art world across a wide spectrum of professions, nationalities, ages and cultural backgrounds. Begun in Spring 2017, this project’s original aim was to heighten the visibility of these talented women through portraiture, and has since grown to a series of over 400 professionals from every continent. A trained art historian, Van de Puttelaar draws inspiration from great Old Master portrait painters such as Anthony van Dyck, Frans Hals and Peter Lely.

- Ends-

NOTES TO EDITORS
About Bank of America

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 67 million consumer and small business clients with approximately 4,400 retail financial centers, including more than 1,700 lending centers, more than 1,900 Merrill Edge investment centers and more than 1,300 business centers; approximately 16,100 ATMs; and award- winning digital banking with more than 36 million active users, including 25 million mobile 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 3 million small business owners 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 (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. 

About TEFAF New York

TEFAF New York was founded in early 2016 to host two annual art fairs in New York at the Park Avenue Armory, TEFAF New York Fall and TEFAF New York Spring. Each Fair features around 90 leading exhibitors from around the globe. Tom Postma Design, celebrated for its innovative work with leading museums, galleries, and art fairs, has developed designs for the Fairs that interplay with the spectacular spaces while giving them a lighter, contemporary look and feel. Exhibitor stands will flow throughout the Armory’s landmark building encompassing the Wade Thompson Drill Hall and extending to both the first and second floors of the Armory’s period rooms, creating a Fair of unprecedented depth and impact in New York City.                                                                            

About TEFAF Maastricht  

TEFAF Maastricht is widely regarded as the world's premier Fair for fine art, antiques and design. Featuring over 280 prestigious dealers from some 22 countries, TEFAF Maastricht is a showcase for the finest art works currently on the market. TEFAF is a not-for-profit foundation acting as an expert guide for both private and institutional collectors in a global marketplace, which inspires lovers and buyers of art everywhere. 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.

The upcoming edition of TEFAF Maastricht will run from March 7-15 March 2020.

Press Contacts
USA

Magda Grigorian, magda.grigorian@sharpthink.com +1 212 829 0002

Austin Durling,  austin.durling@sharpthink.com +1 212 829 0002

Latin America

Graciela Prosperi, graciela@argentinaculturalservices.nl, +31 6 52600055

TEFAF

Jan Peter Verhagen, jp.verhagen@tefaf.com, +31 6 42567225

Global 

Nina Hartmann, nina.hartmann@tefaf.com