A Tale of Two Art Fairs

The Frieze Art Fair and the Met’s Costume Institute gala start the May art season, which flowers in all its mercenary, status-seeking, and acquisitive splendor. I covered the Met gala on Thursday and wrote a bit about the Frieze last week, after scouring its virtual booths, which offered “beaucoup de merde,” as Voltaire might have said. Today, I’ll parse New York’s version of TEFAF, the European Fine Art Fair, which ran for five days at the Park Avenue Armory, and the American Art Fair at the Bohemian Hall on 73rd Street. The big auctions at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips unfold over two weeks, with molti moolah already spent.

The fairs and auctions suggest tepid rather than moribund markets with lots of sales but lower prices than during the boomlet two or three years ago. Then, the Covid mass hysteria made the rich richer. Country retreats got serious makeovers. Working more and more from home, executives couldn’t bear looking at posters for old movies. They wanted real art. I went to both fairs on their final day, so the atmosphere was quiet. In TEFAF’s case, it was downright listless and not only because dealers awaited the yabba-dabba-doo whistle.

The Frieze Art Fair and the Met’s Costume Institute gala start the May art season, which flowers in all its mercenary, status-seeking, and acquisitive splendor. I covered the Met gala on Thursday and wrote a bit about the Frieze last week, after scouring its virtual booths, which offered “beaucoup de merde,” as Voltaire might have said. Today, I’ll parse New York’s version of TEFAF, the European Fine Art Fair, which ran for five days at the Park Avenue Armory, and the American Art Fair at the Bohemian Hall on 73rd Street. The big auctions at Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Phillips unfold over two weeks, with molti moolah already spent.

The fairs and auctions suggest tepid rather than moribund markets with lots of sales but lower prices than during the boomlet two or three years ago. Then, the Covid mass hysteria made the rich richer. Country retreats got serious makeovers. Working more and more from home, executives couldn’t bear looking at posters for old movies. They wanted real art. I went to both fairs on their final day, so the atmosphere was quiet. In TEFAF’s case, it was downright listless and not only because dealers awaited the yabba-dabba-doo whistle.