The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) is being held in Maastricht until March 22 in the MECC (the convention center). It’s a bit pricey: 35 euro per person for a day pass and 20 euro for the catalog. But the art is worth the price: this is a private collector’s show, so there are a lot of wonderful works that will not be seen in public again.
The show is huge: allow at least four hours to get a general walk-through of the various dealer’s exhibits. The floor space is divided into Old Masters (actually a mix of classical and more contemporary), Modern (generally anything in the past 150 years), Antiquities (Greek, Roman, and Egyptian pieces), and Antiques (clocks, jewelry, and furniture). I’ll cover the Dutch maters in another posting, but wanted to show a few pictures from the Modern area today
I always enjoy the Modern area most: there are lots of interesting pieces and a scattering of different works by well-known artists. The quality isn’t always high: there are too many lithographs and preliminary works being sold as though they are major works. But it’s always fun to find something original and raw that a well-known or unknown artist has done.