This year’s edition of the International Fine Art Fair, held at the Park Avenue Armory from May 1-5, had about a third fewer dealers than last year’s. And the organizer, Haughton International Fairs, gave away tickets — as I wrote here. (It also advertised more heavily.)
But when the fair closed on Tuesday, the Haughton organization says, the crowd had not only shown up as expected — to a number on par with its height in 2003, about 14,000 — but also the number of paid tickets climbed vs. last year. Those who attended also bought more than naysayers predicted.
Of course, dealers are private businesses, and don’t have to report anything they don’t want; all of this is taken on faith.
Among the sales:
- Adam Williams Fine Art sold a Luca Giordano oil with an asking price of $350,000.
- Hill-Stone sold eight Old Master drawings, notably Ludovico Cigolli’s drawing of a young man, circa 1612, for five figures.
- Jonathan Boos sold a Henry Moore sculpture for $375,000 and Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Barn,” 1926 (below), for $550,000.
- Waterhouse & Dodd sold a Henri Martin painting for nearly a half-million dollars.
Of course, we’ll learn more about the contemporary market this week, when the big auctions in New York take place.
Photo Credits: Haughton International Fairs (top); Jonathan Boos (bottom).