News & downloads

TEFAF 2011 Review

Monday, April 11, 2011

by Oliver Shuttleworth

The European Fine Art Fair this year was a huge success with over 270 stands selling every manner of art object from early Chinese pottery to 21^st Century photography. In keeping with the art market trend Waterhouse and Dodd had a spectacularly successful year with sales across the board, from works by Lebasque and Valadon to Modernist works by Georges Folmer and Hans Richter.

Overall turnout for the fair was also strong with numbers having swelled since 2010. Footfall doesn’t always guarantee sales though and our new position in the heart of the Modern/Contemporary section led to crowds at the Waterhouse and Dodd booth. Works sold included a fabulous Suzanne Valadon, a Fernand Leger oil on canvas and a stunning Lebasque, from a private British collection, not seen on the market in 21 years.

Overall spending at TEFAF was good towards the lower end of the scale. The fair traditionally draws the very biggest collectors but many did stay away this March as Dickinson failed to sell their stunning Renoir (Femme cueillant des fleurs) which was apparently on offer for $15m. Otto Nauman didn’t manage to find a buyer for his Rembrandt portrait (Portrait of a Man with Arms Akimbo), with a price of $47m, it was one of the most talked about objects of the whole event. Otto had persuaded Steve Wynn to sell it on the back of poor occupancy rates in his Las Vegas hotels! Yet antiquities and works of art apparently sold more objects than ever before as more middle market buyers rushed to invest their money carefully in well-vetted ornamental heirlooms rather than poor-performing stocks or savings accounts.

Much hype was made of the rise in VAT, from 6% to 19%, but this came to naught when TEFAF established that it was only applicable to a small number of transactions where works were imported into the EU. Two other larger issues were the Japanese earthquakes and the troubles in the Arab world, which explained some of the larger buyers staying away.

On talking to Richard Green’s colleagues their stand fared extremely well. A record year for us too indicated a probable swing away from the contemporary scene into more established Impressionist and modern art markets. Waterhouse and Dodd managed to turnover almost €2m which was a record in 8 years of dealing at TEFAF. Of our most important sales the following stood out:

SUZANNE VALADON

French (1865-1938)

Nature morte aux tulipes et compotier de fruits

Signed & dated 1924 Oil on canvas

31.5 x 23.5 in / 80 x 60 cm

An exceptionally beautiful still life, sold to an American collector.

HANS RICHTER

German (1888-1976)

Geisterradfahrer – bicyclists

Signed with monogram & dated 1914 Oil on board

38.75 x 26 in / 98.5 x 66 cm

A masterpiece of German Futurism, exceptionally rare, and the centrepiece of Waterhouse & Dodd's display of DADA and Surrealist works by the German avant-garde artist. Sold to a German collector of Old Master paintings.

RAOUL DUFY

French (1877-1953)

Le dome à Florence

Signed & dated 1922 Watercolour on paper

50 x 66 cm
An early and highly collectable watercolour by Dufy, sold to a German collector.

ALBERT GLEIZES

French (1881-1953)

Juliette à la toque

Signed; titled & dated 1921 on the stretcher Oil on canvas

28 ½ x 23 ½ / 72.5 x 59.5 cm

An elegant painting of the artist's wife, in exceptionally fine condition, sold to a French collector.

HENRI LE SIDANER

French 1862-1939

Les Petites Barqes, Automne, Quimper

Signed Oil on panel

27.5 x 35 cm

Painted at Quimper in November 1923

A jewel-like example of this Post-Impressionist painters work, sold to a German collector - the third painting they have bought from us at TEFAF Maastricht over the years.