Modern and contemporary art and design will once again be the main focus of TEFAF’s second spring foray in New York. The American edition of the prestigious Dutch fair features more than 90 galleries – including 24 newcomers, among them art world heavyweights Gagosian Gallery, Hauser & Wirth and Marian Goodman Gallery. With the fair’s 3 May opening just around the corner, enjoy our sneak peak of four themes and a multitude of artworks that we are looking forward to enjoying in person.
Inspiring the Surrealists
Surrealist paintings and the Native American masks that inspired them are the theme of a focused exhibition from New York’s Di Donna Galleries, who will also run an expanded version of the show at their Madison Avenue outpost. Works by Joan Miró, André Breton and Yves Tanguy will sit alongside rare Yup’ik masks made from wood, feathers, paint and other materials. The juxtaposition demonstrates both spiritual and stylistic connections between the Surrealists and Alaskan and Pacific Northwest cultures.
The Viennese Masters
Coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the death of Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt, W&K - Wienerroither & Kohlbacher will pay tribute to Viennese modernism with works by both artists, as well as by German Expressionists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Erich Heckel. Already this year, museum shows commemorating Austria’s most famous artists have opened at the MFA Boston, Albertina Museum, Leopold Museum, and the Belvedere, with more to come.
Cutting-Edge Recreations
A vanguard of emerging technology, ceramic artist Michael Eden’s 3D-printed Shards, 2017, forms part of a new body of work being exhibited by London gallerist Adrian Sassoon. The brightly colored piece, a modern take on an antique urn from the Sir John Soane's Museum in London, makes use of new tools to create an object previously impossible to manufacture. Eden’s work, which sits at the intersection of craft, design and art, has recently been acquired by the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum.
The Art of Geometry
Joseph Albers is best know for his Homage to the Square series, abstract canvases of rigid geometric compositions from the 1950s and 1960s. David Zwirner, who now represents the artist, is offering the sublime Study for Homage to the Square: Terrassed Foliage, 1960, which appears on the market for the first time.
Beyond the Booths
Throughout its run, fairgoers can also attend a diverse program of events and discussions. TEFAF's Coffee Talks series returns with topics such as Museums and the Community: When, Whether, and How Much to Charge? featuring Metropolitan Museum of Art president and CEO Daniel Weiss and Apollo Magazine editor Thomas Marks.
TEFAF New York Spring is open to the public 4–8 May.
