The largest iteration of The European Fine Art Fair in years featured plenty of blue-chip works—and bottles of Purell
Despite the coronavirus outbreak, and a reported 29 percent drop in first-day preview attendance as a result, many things remained the same at the 2020 edition of The European Fine Art Fair, or TEFAF, in Maastricht—the world’s most famous art and antiques fair, where museum curators as well as blue-chip collectors stalk the seeming miles of aisles at the MECC Maastricht convention center. Though Champagne may flow and hors d’oeuvres may be passed at the 33rd annual iteration of the fair, which runs through March 12, “This is not social,” says Suzanne Demisch of the Manhattan gallery Demisch Danant. “There’s no big dinner and no parties. It’s business, it’s serious, and it’s about collectors.”
Demisch Danant
“Louis Sognot designed a lot in rattan, usually very elegant beds and sofas,” Stephane Danant of Demisch Danant says of a luxuriously simple sofa with a sloping back that was made around 1954. Not many have survived, though, “because people tended to use them as garden furniture. After 50 years in the rain, you can imagine how difficult they are to restore properly.” This example, found in near-pristine condition requiring very little in terms of freshening, is priced at $51,356.
