Guilty Pleasures
By Associated Press
Old Masters and Roman statues vie for the attention of well-heeled collectors at Dutch art fair
MAASTRICHT, Netherlands | Old Masters, Roman statues, modern furniture, tribal masks and vintage watches are vying for the attention of well-heeled collectors as the TEFAF art fair opened on Thursday in the southern Netherlands.
The show takes place in a cavernous exhibition center transformed in just over a week of frantic work into a mega-gallery. Its eclectic collection looks and feels like a mashup of Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the British Museum.
“Special about TEFAF is that we cover almost 7,000 years of art history, 7,000 years of human creation. Whether these are living or dead, artists or artisans,” said Hidde van Seggelen, an art dealer and chairman of the TEFAF executive board.
“Everything that you see here is made by by a human hand. It is all about creation,” he said.
The exhibit is also a showcase of the resilience of the art market in times of global uncertainty.
“We live in difficult times,” Van Seggelen said. “There’s a war … on the European continent, there’s a war happening in the Middle East and you hear about inflation in all countries across the globe.”
“And the art market is still very strong.” he added.
The Rijksmuseum did not waste any time in snapping up a painting by female artist Gesina ter Borch, a member of one of the Netherlands’ most important artistic families of the 17th century. The museum announced the new purchase shortly after the TEFAF doors opened in the city of Maastricht.
One of the highlights of the show, which runs through March 14, is an early portrait by Dutch master Vincent van Gogh, titled “Head of a Peasant Woman in a White Headdress.” It’s on sale at the stand of New Orleans gallery M.S. Rau.
The 1884 oil on canvas mounted on a panel dates to the time the young and unknown artist was living with his parents in the small rural town of Nuenen.
The woman’s identity is not known, but her image is a clear step toward one of Van Gogh’s masterpieces, “The Potato Eaters,” that was completed a year later.
It can be yours for 4.5 million euros ($4.9 million).
“I think art has been an extraordinarily good investment and even in uncertain times, it’s always it’s always held its own,” said gallery president Bill Rau.
“It’s an asset class and what we can be a better asset class than a Van Gogh?” he added, adding that, to him, the works are much more than just an asset.
“All these are my children,” he said as his daughter, Rebecca, walked past.
The fair, now in its 37th year, lets visitors admire and buy, if they have deep pockets, works ranging from a Roman urn dating back to around the 1st century, to a sculptural black wooden chair from 1990 by Italian designer Paolo Pallucco, one of 100 chairs he designed in a single night.
The European Fine Art Foundation, now known by its acronym TEFAF, was born out of a merger of two other art fairs — Pictura and Antiquairs International, which specialized in paintings and antiques.
The first TEFAF fair dates back to 1988, when 97 exhibitors took part. This year, there are 270 dealers and galleries from 22 countries.
The show offers certainty, Van Seggelen said. For buyers it has a strict vetting procedure checking provenance of works to ensure they get exactly what they pay for. For dealers, it offers a guarantee of private and institutional buyers travelling from around the world looking to beef up their collections.
But not everybody brings a checkbook. Two years ago, the fair was rocked by a brazen armed robbery, when thieves made off with diamond jewelry reportedly worth millions. Police said last year that they suspect the robbers came from the Balkans. Despite a 500,000 euro reward being offered for information, no arrests have been made.
“It was an extremely violent event, shocking for many of my colleagues, but exceptional,” said Van Seggelen.
All visitors pass through airport-style metal detectors and security guards with sniffer dogs walked around the conference center.
Van Seggelen declined to go into detail about security at the fair, but said: “It’s very strong and I feel very safe also for the visitors to come here.”
The items on sale don’t all have eye-watering price tags.
“I’ve seen items that you can buy for for a few hundred euros (dollars) … and I’ve seen items that are, you know, over 10 million,” said Van Seggelen.
Olympic champion Ledecky’s memoir, ‘Just Add Water,’ to be published June 11
NEW YORK | Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky has written a memoir, reflecting on a life she can hardly believe is her own.
Simon & Schuster announced Thursday that the celebrated swimmer’s “Just Add Water” will be published June 11. Ledecky, a two-time winner of The Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year award, is a seven-time gold medal winner who has won more individual Olympic races than any female swimmer in history.
Her memoir will cover everything from childhood games of sharks and minnows while growing up in Bethesda, Maryland, to her reign as one of the world’s greatest athletes.
“I never imagined I would make it to the Olympics, or be at this level, or write a book about this unlikely career that I’ve had,” Ledecky, who turns 27 next week, said in a statement.
Simon to receive PEN America’s Literary Service Award
NEW YORK | Paul Simon’s latest honor places him among public figures well outside the music industry. He is this year’s winner of PEN America’s PEN/Audible Literary Service Award, which previously has been given to former President Barack Obama, the late Nobel laureate Toni Morrison and Stephen King among others.
The 82-year-old Simon is known for such classic songs as “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “The Sound of Silence” and for his globe-spanning musical tastes, from Brazil to South Africa to his native New York City. Later this month, he will be featured in the MGM+ docuseries “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon.”
“Paul Simon has inspired fans worldwide with lyrics and songs that entire generations know by heart and can recognize from the very first notes,” PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement Thursday. “His fascination with different cultures, traditions and rhythms have helped open our ears and minds to essential musical traditions. We are elated to pay tribute to this unparalleled creative artist whose music, along with his commitment to humane values and humanitarian causes, has made him a cultural icon.”
Simon will receive his award at PEN’s annual gala, to be held May 16 at the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Last year, PEN presented the literary prize to a longtime friend of Simon’s, “Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels.
On Thursday, PEN also announced it was presenting its Business Visionary award to Almar Latour, CEO of Dow Jones and publisher of The Wall Street Journal. PEN, a prominent advocate for free expression, cited his efforts to bring about the release of Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been held in Russia for nearly a year on allegations of espionage.
“At a time when facts and truth are in question, the Wall Street Journal’s role as a source of credible, reported news is indispensable,” PEN President Jennifer Finney Boylan said in a statement. “Almar’s commitment to delivering trusted news and information and building sustainable news operations is a lifelong calling. His fierce support for press freedom and for Evan has been inspiring.”
Gershkovich’s parents are scheduled to be in attendance Thursday when President Joe Biden delivers his annual State of the Union address. Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich were invited by House Speaker Mike Johnson.
‘Rust’ armorer’s trial gives Baldwin’s team a window into how his own trial could unfold
SANTA FE, N.M. | The trial and conviction of a movie armorer in connection with a fatal shooting on the set of the Western movie “Rust” has given Alec Baldwin and his legal team a unusual window into how his own trial in the death could unfold.
A New Mexico jury deliberated less than three hours Wednesday before convicting armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed of involuntary manslaughter in the death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. She was swiftly taken into custody as she awaits sentencing, facing up to 18 months in prison.
Baldwin figured prominently into testimony and closing arguments over two weeks that highlighted his authority as a co-producer and the lead actor on “Rust.” Both the prosecution and defense in Gutierrez-Reed’s trial dissected video footage of Baldwin before the fatal shooting for clues about breakdowns in firearms safety.
Baldwin’s trial is scheduled for July and will involve the same judge and prosecutors as well as many of the same witnesses. Baldwin has maintained that he pulled back the gun’s hammer, but not the trigger, and the weapon fired, killing Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.
Having seen Gutierrez-Reed’s trial play out will be a boon to Baldwin and his legal team, said Emily D. Baker, a legal analyst and former Los Angeles deputy district attorney who wasn’t involved in the case but followed it closely.
“They’re in the incredible position of getting to watch this prosecutor in action, see how this judge works, and come in knowing exactly what these experts are going to say and how they present to the jury,” Baker said Wednesday. “I don’t think Baldwin’s going to want to deal in this case, and I think his legal team will tell him this is a very different case than the case against Hannah.”
A weapons expert for the prosecution in Gutierrez-Reed’s case gave strong testimony, Baker said. But the armorer expert was aligned with what Baldwin’s team has been saying all along — that it wasn’t his job to check the weapon, Baker said.
Expert witness and movie firearms consultant Bryan Carpenter testified that images showed Baldwin firing blanks toward a camera within a “no-go” zone at close range, flouting safety protocols as he commanded crew members to quickly reload his revolver, and waving a gun like a pointing stick after the close of one scene. Another clip captures the sound of Baldwin firing a gun after a director calls out, “Cut!”
Investigators haven’t found any video recordings of the shooting, which took place during a rehearsal inside a makeshift church on Oct. 21, 2021, on a movie set outside Santa Fe. But Gutierrez-Reed’s trial included previously undisclosed testimony from eyewitnesses to the shooting.
Those witnesses included Souza, who felt the shock of a bullet’s impact as he moved in for a view of the camera monitor — but never saw the gun that shot him.
A camera-dolly operator and the assistant director Dave Halls also gave visceral accounts of the revolver firing and the aftermath. Script writer Mamie Mitchell testified that the script didn’t call for Baldwin to point the gun.
“Alec Baldwin’s conduct and his lack of gun safety inside that church on that day is something that he’s going to have to answer for,” prosecutor Kari Morrissey said in her closing arguments against Gutierrez-Reed. “Not with you and not today. That’ll be with another jury, on another day.”
Morrissey and co-counsel Jason Lewis presented the case against Baldwin to a grand jury in January and secured an indictment on the single felony count that gives them two pathways to prosecution. A recent analysis of the gun gave them the opportunity to reboot the case after an initial involuntary manslaughter charge against Baldwin was dismissed.
That analysis by Forensic Science Services in Arizona concluded “the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”
The author of an earlier FBI report on the gun testified at the Gutierrez-Reed trial that the gun arrived with all safety features in working order, and that only way the revolver would fire with the hammer full retracted was to strike it with a mallet and break it.
Defense attorneys for Baldwin have shown no sign of compromise with special prosecutors appointed by Santa Fe-area District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies, who is running for reelection and confronting a Democratic primary challenge by a former DA in June.
A February fundraising message from Carmack-Altwies vowed justice for Hutchins and her family “no matter who else is involved,” without naming Baldwin.
“No one avoids culpability due to fame, wealth, or connections in my jurisdiction,” she wrote.
During Gutierrez-Reed’s trial last week, one witness for the prosecution stated the obvious as a prosecutor asked, “Is Mr. Baldwin on trial today?”
“It appears that he is a bit, yes,” said Ross Addiego, a crew member who witnessed the fatal shooting at close range and has sued Baldwin in civil court.
The lawsuit is one in a series of legal actions, including wrongful death claims filed by members of Hutchins’ family, centered on accusations that the defendants were lax with safety standards. Baldwin and other defendants have disputed those allegations.
The filming of “Rust” moved to Montana after the shooting in New Mexico, under an agreement with Hutchins’ widower, Matthew Hutchins, that made him an executive producer.
—From AP reports
