It’s Official: TEFAF Is Coming to New York’s Park Avenue Armory

New York may not need another art fair, but another art fair it shall get. The New York Times reports that TEFAF Maastricht, Europe’s most prestigious fair, will arrive in Manhattan as soon as October 2016.

The two-part art fair will take place at the Park Avenue Armory, beginning with its fall component in October, and continuing in May 2017 with its spring fair. The first iteration will focus on art ranging from antiques to 20th century, while the second will feature modern art and design.

In March, 275 exhibitors from 20 countries will descend on Maastricht, where some galleries experience “anywhere from 25 to 50 percent” of their annual business from the fair, as London dealer Johnny Van Haeften told artnet News.

Theodore Rombouts, Card Players. Oil on canvas at this year’s TEFAF Maastricht.
Photo: Courtesy Otto Naumann

“On numerous occasions, our exhibitors in Maastricht have expressed the need and desire for a Tefaf platform in the US, as have many private and institutional collectors,” TEFAF chief executive Patrick van Maris told the Times. “As the world’s most buoyant art market, New York is a perfect match.”

TEFAF, which is organized by the non-profit European Fine Art Foundation, has partnered with New York-based Artvest Partners to produce the fairs, which will replace the International Fine Art & Antiques Show in the fall and Spring Masters in spring 2017.

Each fair is slated to feature 80 to 90 galleries. Plans are in the works to move beyond the Armory’s expansive 55,000 square-foot Wade Thompson Drill Hall and into the lesser used first and second floor period rooms, which are currently under restoration.