International Flair

NEW YORK—Fairs focusing on cutting-edge contemporary art may be stealing the spotlight these days, but for top-quality historical material, private collectors and museum directors look forward each May to the International Fine Art Fair, put on by veteran organizers Brian and Anna Haughton at the Seventh Regiment Armory. The 15th edition runs from May 9 through 14 and comprises more than 50 dealers whose wares—paintings and sculptures dating from the Renaissance to the 20th century— are meticulously vetted. The esteemed New York dealer Debra Force is bringing, among other gems, a William Merritt Chase painting, circa 1909, depicting the American artist’s villa in Florence, priced at about $500,000. The 10 newcomers this year include the Florence-based Piacenti Fine Art, which is displaying a painting by the 16th-century Italian artist Mirabello Cavalori of a precocious- looking child clutching a sprig of hyacinth and a piece of fruit. Another enticing Italian Renaissance work, a picture of two frolicking putti by Luca Cambiaso (1527–1585), is on offer by Moretti, of New York and London, for around $300,000. Strong 20th-century material also abounds, with London’s Neffe-Degandt Fine Art presenting Édouard Vuillard’s Dans le parc au Château des Clayes, circa 1933, of leisure seekers in a park, for $1.5 million, and New York’s Questroyal Fine Art selling Alexander Calder’s Pyramids and Red Sun, 1975.

"International Flair" originally appeared in the May 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's May 2008 Table of Contents.