“Despite fewer exhibitors,” the increased attendance reported at the 16th annual International Art Fair, “yielded twice the business and interest for the dealers on the floor,” according to fair promoters. Opening on April 31 for a five-day run with a gala preview party benefiting the nearby iconic museum, the Frick Collection, the Haughton-managed fair proved that the international and New York “art market remains remarkably resilient.”
Taking place at the Park Avenue Armory from May 1 through 5, the show boasted attendance significantly up from previous years, in fact, according to information released by the Haughtons, it was “on a par with the fair’s best in 2003.”
Stellar works of art filled the 36 stands that made up the fair and the crowds were appreciative. The select line-up of dealers reflected the organizers’ determination to maintain the quality of the event. Larger display areas for the dealers provided room for exciting presentations, some mimicking room-settings with draped entries.
A large and lively crowd was on hand for the Frick’s preview, and sales were reported throughout the evening and throughout the show. Among these was a large oil by the Seventeenth Century Italian master Luca Giordano at New York dealer Adam Williams Fine Art priced at $350,000. Also displayed was a portrait of “Lady Mary Fane” by British artist Sir Peter Lely and an early Sixteenth Century portrait of a bearded young man by Lucas Cranach the Elder.
Other notable Old Masters attracting interest included a Seventeenth Century Flemish oil by Peter Brueghel the Younger priced in excess of $4 million displayed at London dealer Richard Green’s booth. Attractively displayed in a draped room was “Danseuse a l’Eventail,” a pastel on paper by Edgar Degas. Alongside it hung “Match de Cricket a Bedford Park, Londres” by Camille Pissarro.
One of the highlights of the fair was the display at Babcock Galleries, New York City, which included two Marsden Hartley oils, “Calla Lilies in a Vase,” 1928, and “Autumn Landscape, Dogtown,” 1934, both of which were marked price on request. The opposite wall of Babcock’s booth featured the work of Charles Sheeler with a 1946 tempera titled “Barn Abstraction,” also marked price on request, while his 1959 tempera on plexiglass “Barn Decorations (Hex Signs)” was $275,000, and “Rose in a Vase,” a colored pencil from 1924, was $185,000.
Bernard Goldberg Fine Art, New York City, could easily have been awarded the title of the best Americana on the floor with the offering of two majestic folk sculptures from the early Twentieth Century. Measuring more than 36 inches tall, the carved and painted dancing figures were thought to have been made for a sign for a dance hall in Pennsylvania. Goldberg stated that the stylish and “charming dancers exemplify the confluence of sophistication and naivete that often occurs in American folk sculpture.” Keeping with the theme, Bill Traylor’s “Woman with Umbrella and Bag” was displayed nearby.
Guilford, Conn., dealer Tom Colville Fine Art reported a solid fair with the sale of a Hudson River landscape by Frank Anderson that was said to have left the booth for a six-figure sum. A stellar selection of American art was presented at every turn in the stand, including “The Timer,” an oil on canvas by Thomas Eakins, and “Morning, Long Island” by Mauritz De Haas.
Questroyal Fine Art, New York City, made a number of solid five-figure American paintings sales, including a Herman Herzog oil, “A Country Home” that was stickered at $87,000. Other highlights in the booth included a Martin Johnson Heade oil titled “Roses on a Palette” that was marked $355,000. Theodore Robinson’s “Cliffs By The Sea” was offered at $30,000 and “Columbus Circle” by Guy Wiggins was $95,000.
Another Heade on the floor, “Wilderness Sunset, 1861,” executed with brilliant colors throughout the late evening sky, was among the standouts at Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York City.
New exhibitor Jonathan Boos, a private dealer from Michigan and the son of the late auctioneer by the same name, made his first appearance at the fair and reported a sensational showing. Sales included a Henry Moore bronze group of two women and a child from 1945 that was marked $375,000, an Albert Bloch oil, “Duel,” at $575,000 and Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Barn,” 1926, at $550,000.
London dealers Waterhouse & Dodd were “very pleasantly surprised” at the level of business and sold a group of works including a Jean Dufy oil, a Joan Miro watercolor and a large Henri Martin oil totaling nearly half a million dollars.
The next Haughton event is the International Ceramics Fair and Seminar, June 11‱4, London. For information, 212-642-8572 or www.haughton.com .
