What does “Tefaf” stand for? The European High-quality Artwork Honest? Or the European High-quality Artwork Basis? After I was modifying Apollo we used to tie ourselves in knots parsing that second “F” whilst our Tefaf Maastricht protection went to press.
To crack the acronym I seek the advice of Johnny van Haeften, one of many group of sellers who based Tefaf in 1988. ”Which got here first, the hen or the egg?” he says. In establishing the truthful, a basis (stichting in Dutch) appeared probably the most becoming authorized entity for the aim of making an occasion “run by sellers, for sellers… in order that no one had a bonus over anyone else.”
That Tefaf operates as a not-for-profit differentiates it from different main artwork truthful manufacturers. There aren’t any shareholders demanding a return, no house owners to primp the factor on the market. Tefaf is ruled by an govt committee and a board of trustees, which incorporates collectors and museum representatives in addition to taking part sellers. Amongst current appointees is Eike Schmidt, the director of the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples.
“It’s a utterly totally different animal [from other fair organisations],” says Laura Kugel of Galerie Kugel, who has been a trustee of Tefaf since 2020. “The cash it makes is reinvested to make it the very best occasion for the group.” Tefaf units out to work for its sellers, in different phrases—to facilitate “what they’re making an attempt to realize”, says Will Korner, Tefaf’s head of gala’s, and to amplify “what they consider in”.
Of all gala’s, although, to my thoughts Tefaf Maastricht can communicate most authentically of a group that reaches past its exhibitors to embody the curators, artwork historians and collectors who convene there yearly. “It’s a bit just like the Davos of the artwork world,” Kugel says. “It tries to create hyperlinks that transcend the connection between a vendor and a collector.”
Maybe its non-corporate construction has been a think about enabling Tefaf to develop formal initiatives with museums too. Actually, for a public establishment to companion with a not-for-profit seems like a smoother street than navigating business potholes elsewhere. This yr museum collaborations at Tefaf Maastricht embrace a Giacometti exhibition offered by Kunsthaus Zürich.
For all that its stichting standing is actually a authorized designation, Tefaf has more and more embraced the extra charitable associations conveyed by the English phrase “basis”. Since 2008 it has supported Cultural Emergency Response, a world NGO that protects threatened or broken cultural heritage. In 2012 it launched its museum restoration fund, which makes two grants yearly of €25,000 to revive artworks in museum collections.
Sellers generally grumble about artwork truthful initiatives that appear to eclipse the instant enterprise of promoting artwork. However when they’re purposeful, the entire sector stands to achieve. That Tefaf and the Netherlands Fee for Unesco are collaborating once more on the Tefaf Summit (16 March) augurs wider dialogue the place there may in any other case be dispute.
So what does that second “F” stand for? “It stands for gala’s,” Korner says. “However it additionally stands for the inspiration—and that’s one thing we actually care about.”
• Thomas Marks is the co-founder of Marks|Calil, a strategic consultancy that works with museums and artwork companies. From 2013 to 2021 he was the editor of Apollo journal
