Global Institutions Secure Key Acquisitions at TEFAF 2024

TEFAF Museum Acquisitions assets here.

Maastricht, Netherlands, 7 October 2024 – The European Fine Art Foundation (TEFAF) announces successful acquisitions of artworks during the 2024 editions of TEFAF Maastricht (March 9-14, March 2024) and TEFAF New York (May 7-13, 2024) by major international institutions. These acquisitions see the 7,000 years of fine art, antiques, and design exhibited at the fairs join some of the world’s greatest public collections.

Annually TEFAF attracts art enthusiasts and collectors alike to purchase works presented by over 360 international exhibitors combined. This year culminated in significant acquisitions by esteemed museums, institutions and foundations. Alongside private collectors, TEFAF’s museum connections attended in high numbers with over 300 museum directors, 650 curators and 40 patron groups from around the world – such as the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio; the Frick Collection in New York; J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles California; Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Centre Pompidou, the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay and Palaisa de Tokyo Paris, France; and the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York among many others.

A diverse range of antiques were sold to museums around the world, including:

- Flower Pyramid (c. 1690), a beautiful hexagonal type of pyramid marked by Dutch ceramicist Adrianus Kocx (the owner of the Greek A Factory and likely produced for the English market) which was a desirable product for English aristocrats supporting the Dutch Stadtholder, later William III of England, and his wife Mary. Flower Pymaid was acquired by Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio from Dutch dealer of quality Delftware, Aronson Antiquairs;

- A second piece exhibited by Dutch dealer Aronson Antiquairs, the Blue and White Double-Gourd-Shaped Vase (c. 1670), also found a new home at the Art Institute of Chicago in Illinois;

- Spanish dealer Deborah Elvira’s devotional pendant Capezzale Depicting Mary Magdelene – a 20cm-wide pendant made of coral and silver closer in style to Spanish designs (rather than similar Sicilian designs of capezzali made in the city of Trapani) of the wearable jewel known as rosa de pecho. The central image — Mary Magdalene holding the cross — was a feminine subject of devotion more in accordance with Spanish tastes. Capezzale Depicting Mary Magdelene was purchased by Wawel Royal Castle in Poland, a place of great historical and cultural importance;

- Galerie Sismann’s Virgin and Child (c. 1756 – 69) by Belgian sculptor Pieter Pepers sold to Musea Brugge in Belgium;

- An exceptional oak polyhedral sundial commissioned by Willem Alberda (1674-1721) brought by French dealer Galerie Kugel and acquired by the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands;

- The Renaissance Ostrich-egg Flask from the Kunstkammer of the Margraves and Grand Dukes of Baden-Baden (c. 1600) acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from Kunstkammer Georg Laue in Munich, Germany;

- São Roque’s unique Safavid Shah ‘Abbas’ reign frame mirror, which bridges Persia and Europe in different ways, acquired by the Aga Khan Museum in Canada;

- Italian sculptor Giambologna’s Striding Mars – a highlight of the Maastricht fair from London dealer Stuart Lochhead Sculpture as Giambologna was the leading court sculptor of the Medici family and his style is emblematic of the late Italian Renaissance in how he captures the beauty of nature through an idealized depiction of the human body. Striding Mars was acquired by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut representing a significant enhancement to the museum’s European sculpture collection;

- Portrait of Moses ter Borch as a Two-Year Old (c. 1667), a testament to the familial bonds and artistic prowess within the Ter Borch family as one of the most esteemed artist families of the 17th-century in Northern Netherlands by Dutch Golden Age watercolorist and draftswoman Gesina ter Borch, acquired by the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands from Dutch dealers Zebregs&Röell Fine Arts and Antiques.

Numerous works – both paintings and sculptures from Old Masters to contemporary – were purchased during the Fairs with highlight works acquired by international museums being:

- A painting titled A Book Peddler (c.1670-90) by Master of the Canesso Peddler exhibited by Italian Renaissance and Baroque specialist Galerie Canesso and acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York;

- Christ on the cross, an oil on painting by Italian artist Francesco Buoneri (also known as Cecco da Caravaggio) acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from Spanish dealer Galeria Caylus;

- The Fight between Horatii and Curatii (c. 1798-99) by a French painter of the circle of Barbus of the School of David exhibited by the Rome-based Galleria Carlo Virgilio and acquired by the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation - which is exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in Texas;

- American sculptor John DeAndrea’s Adam and Eve (2021) acquired by FENIX Rotterdam from the Paris-based Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois;

- An oil on canvas painting by German artist Johann Richard Seel’s Josefine Jacobine Bloem und Friderike Luisa Bloem Betty (1841) – which diverged from his usual realism, instead embracing contemporary ideals of beauty – sold to The Louvre in Paris, France by 19^th century art dealers Gallery 19C in Texas. This painting closes a gap in Richard Seel’s oeuvre, and also delivers a powerful image of two women who – with their family – were dedicated to forge a liberal-democratic future for Germany;

- Kunsthalle Karlsruhe in Germany acquisition of 20th century and contemporary African art dealer TAFETA’s Untitled Boy with Strings (c. 1798 – 99) by Johannesburg-based artist Nelson Makamo;

- Primary Fields (2001) by American abstract artist Joan Snyder exhibited by international gallery Thaddaeus Ropac and acquired by the Longlati Foundation in China. In this diptych, over six decades of Snyder’s reimagined narrative of abstraction are embodied with the two panels united. This nods to her celebrated “Stroke” paintings of the 1970s.

Highlight works on paper acquired were:

- Jewish artist Mela Muter’s work on paper titled Une vieille bretonne (1907) acquired by Musée d'Orsay in Paris, France from Belgian art dealer Agnews Works on Paper;
- Young Girl with Headscarf (c. 1880s), a work on paper created by French painter and writer Henriette Daux acquired by the Baltimore Museum of Art in Maryland from London-based dealer Colnaghi Elliott Master Drawings;
- The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, a work on paper exhibited by Berlin dealer of uncommon prints and European drawings from the 16^th to 20^th century Nicolaas Teeuwisse and acquired by the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands.

Paul van den Biesen, TEFAF’s Head of Collectors and Museums, comments: “TEFAF has cultivated relationships with the world’s leading collections for many years and we are honored to welcome many directors, curators and patrons from the international museum community to our fairs. The variety of these acquisitions reflects the dedication and broad expertise of our exhibitors, whose deep knowledge and rigorous research bring significant works into public view. Coupled with TEFAF’s meticulous vetting process, this ensures institutions can confidently expand their collections, preserving cultural treasures for future generations.

TEFAF’s status as a foundation is an important part of its close ties to the museum world. Since 2012, the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund awards two grants to public institutions for the restoration of significant artworks. More recently, TEFAF launched the Curator Course, a program designed to bridge the academic world and the art market by fostering knowledge exchange, sharing expertise, and expanding professional networks.”

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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.

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