MAASTRICHT, the Netherlands — It seems as if just a moment ago New Yorkers were complaining about fair fatigue after the city’s busiest art week, with its dizzying number of shows, its oversaturation of contemporary art, its proliferating number of collectors and spiraling prices.
Now all that seems like an hors d’oeuvre next to the annual pilgrimage to Maastricht.
Every March, in a cavernous convention center here, the European Fine Art Fair presents a far bigger picture of the international art world. This 10-day event, which opened on Thursday, takes in the entire sweep of art history. On view is more than $4 billion worth of art, objects and antiquities, including the sandstone torso of an Egyptian general (circa 300 B.C.), for $12.4 million, and one of three pairs of wooden shoes carved and worn by Gauguin in 1889, for about $500,000. An ornately carved bird cage from 1900 had a price tag of $271,000.
Much of what the fair’s 274 dealers brought this year reflects today’s current tastes and fashions. But it isn’t only about demand. Supply is an issue here, too, with fewer blockbusters than in years past because, dealers say, they just aren’t coming up for sale.
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“What’s disappearing are the very great things and the very new,” said Scott Schaefer, who recently announced his retirement as senior curator of paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles and who spent two days with scores of colleagues vetting the objects for sale. “But there are some very good artworks here this year.”
And the best things sold fast, even if they had been recently auctioned. One of the fair’s standouts, “The Supper at Emmaus,” by the Italian Baroque painter Bernardo Strozzi, was snapped up on Saturday by an unidentified collector said to be American. Otto Naumann, the New York dealer, admits he took a risk when he bought the painting at Christie’s in London in December for $1.5 million. “I knew it was reckless, kind of suicidal,” Mr. Naumann said. “The painting was so dark, it looked as though it had been in a fire. There were two layers of varnish with dirt trapped in between them.” Yet if it cleaned well, Mr. Naumann said, he knew he’d have a winner on his hands. The London restorer Henry Gentle spent months removing the grime and varnish and discovered a highly detailed scene of Jesus at a table breaking bread. The asking price was $3.5 million.
Collectors from all over the world could be seen perusing the booths. Among those spotted were Michel David-Weill, the former chairman of Lazard Frères; J. Tomilson Hill, vice-chairman of the Blackstone Group, and his wife, Janine; Frederick W. and Candace K. Beinecke, the New York collectors; Dimitri Mavrommatis, the Greek financier; and Ma Weidu, the Chinese collector and television personality.
General attendance was up about 5.2 percent, according to Titia Vellenga, a spokeswoman for the fair, citing the strength of the global art market. By the time the fair ends on March 25 she estimates that about 75,000 people will have come, compared with about 70,000 last year.
The fair is a magnet for museum directors, too, who come alone or with trustees and hope to shop for themselves and for their museums. Among the directors seen on the opening weekend were Malcolm Rogers, who is retiring from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum; Colin B. Bailey, who runs the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; and Emilie Gordenker, director of the Mauritshuis in The Hague. Among the institutions reserving art and objects they hope to buy, pending board approval, are the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
This being old master country, there are always plenty of paintings of religious and devotional scenes, princely portraits and still lifes. Among the most coveted this year is a still life from 1638 by the Dutch master Pieter Claesz of a crisply painted glass beaker, a plate of herring, bread and a pack of cards at Haboldt & Company, the Paris dealer. Bob Haboldt, the gallery’s founder, said he discovered the painting in a private French collection. The asking price was $3.8 million, and the painting sold to an unidentified American collector Friday.
For the past several years, the modern and contemporary art section has been suffering from the loss of several top galleries including Acquavella, Gagosian, Pace, Richard Gray and Leslie Waddington. (Some chose not to participate because, they said, the fair went on too long, among other reasons.) Paul Kasmin, who runs three spaces in Chelsea, is the only new dealer taking their place. “As a visitor, it’s certainly the most interesting fair,” Mr. Kasmin said, when asked why he decided to sign on this year. Since he is a newcomer, Mr. Kasmin said he purposely brought a selection of works by artists he regularly shows including Walton Ford, François-Xavier Lalanne, and Simon Hantaï.
Unlike Art Basel, the Holy Grail of contemporary art fairs held in Switzerland every June, this fair lacks a selection of new art. There are, however, many dealers offering blue-chip modern paintings, drawings and sculptures by artists whose stock has risen recently. In addition to late Picassos, abstract canvases by Gerhard Richter and sculptures by John Chamberlain, there are some particularly unusual objects here, too. One is “Radio 1,” from 1960 by the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely. Composed of an old bicycle wheel and the innards of a working radio, it blares music and the wheel spins when it’s turned on. “Tinguely made it in Rauschenberg’s Broadway studio, and it belonged to Rauschenberg,” said Angela Westwater, one of the founders of Sperone Westwater, who is selling it on behalf of the Rauchenberg Foundation. Priced at $750,000, the sculpture had not sold as of Sunday afternoon, although Ms. Westwater said several museums had expressed interest.
The popularity of Gutai artists — members of the postwar Japanese collective that was the subject of a show at the Guggenheim Museum in New York last year — has grown steadily. Axel Vervoordt, the Antwerp dealer, has been selling Gutai artists for years, but never as successfully as now. “They are getting harder to find,” said Robert Lauwers, one of the gallery’s directors, who was showing off a group of canvases by Kazuo Shiraga, the avant-garde artist known for painting barefoot while hanging from a rope.
One of the most unexpected installations this year can be found at Tomasso Brothers, London dealers who specialize in classic European sculptures. In an all-black setting, amid 17th-century Roman busts and bronzes, are four works by Damien Hirst, including a black sheep with golden horns submerged in Formaldehyde (2009), from the artist’s own collection. The asking price is more than $3.74 million. “Damien and I grew up in Leeds together,” said Dino Tomasso, one of the owners. “He loved the idea of doing something at this fair. He’d never been here before.”