Art Collectives: Top 10 Pieces To See at TEFAF New York 2024

British sculptor Lynn Chadwick is hardly a household name on these shores. However, his work was showcased at no less than two Venice Biennales, in 1952 and 1956. London dealer Osborne Samuel is featuring Chadwick's 1958 Beast (Old Leather Head) composed of iron and composition and close to two feet in height. The rather forbidding animal-like monster is perched on three rather thin, distorted limbs.

Alberto Giacometti’s sculptural oeuvre has long reached lofty multi-million dollar price levels with renown collectors, like Lily Safra. The Paris Galerie Jacques Lacoste is spotlighting Giacometti’s 1948 bronze, somewhat surreal Oblong cup. 

Spare and sinuous in shape, the cup is more than two feet across and sits on a small bulbous base. The soft green and pale tobacco patina is sublime. Giacometti knew the distinguished French interior designer, Jean-Michel Frank, and that friendship enabled the sculptor to not only turn out vases, but also lighting. 

The late American designer and sculptor, Wendell Castle (1932-2018), has long been revered as the grandfather of American design for his oeuvre which frequently blend function and sculpture, while imbued with whimsy. 

The Tribeca design gallery, R & Company, is featuring Castle’s 1975 oak Cabinet, towering close to seven feet tall and comprised of stacked laminated wood in a variety of blond hues. The drawers and doors pull out in a number of quixotic shapes, rendering it Castle’s most monumental-shaped piece. Castle completed it in 2017, only one year before his death.

The market has been flooded with contemporary craft, but London dealer Adrian Sassoon offers rarities in silver, ceramics, and glass of such quality that they are truly rooted in the fine art world. Especially captivating is the Japanese gold and silversmith Hiroshi Suzuki’s Miyabi-Fire Vase which was completed only last year. 

The vessel is hardly minute, but rather seventeen inches in height. Enormous skill in hand hammering is required to complete the vessel with its undulating rivulets. His work is held in the permanent collections of prominent institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and London’s V & A Museum.

Belgian dealer Axel Vervoordt has long built a formidable clientele, including style luminaries like the late fashion designer Givenchy. Vervoordt highlights classical antiquities, contemporary art by A-listers like Anish Kapoor, as well as introduces collectors to overlooked artists. 

Pride of place on his stand is a compelling painting by the Japanese artist, Kazuo Shiraga (1924-2008), a member of the Gutai avant-garde movement celebrated for their gestural brushstrokes. Shirago’s oil painting Funkei is ablaze with flaming red, vibrant brushstrokes. As the painting stretches more than eight feet across, this monumental art work is the ultimate wall power.

Italian artist Alberto Burri (1915-1995) was the ultimate Renaissance man. Painter, sculptor, and physician, Burri turned to unconventional materials to craft his outstanding creative endeavors. A prime example is on view with Turin and London dealer Mazzoleni– Burri’s Bianco Plastica from 1965. While he is hardly a household name, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art headlined a celebrated retrospective, “Alberto Burri: The Trauma of Painting,” in 2015.

London antiquities dealer Charles Ede, formed more than 60 years ago, always brings superlative examples from the past. Prominent on his stand is this small bronze head of a bearded male, possibly a Triton, deemed the son of the god Poseidon. The head with its thick, curling hair caps a highly expressive face with its teeth inlaid with silver.

Craft fairs are flooded with contemporary jewelry, however, London dealer Didier spotlights rarities like jewels by such celebrated artists as Man Ray, Joseph Cornell, and even Larry Rivers. Especially fetching, although hardly a textbook name, is a delicate gold brooch inset with surrealist painting on enamel by the American surrealist and abstract expressionist artist, Walter Wellington Quirt (1902-1968). 

Interestingly, when the Museum of Modern Art staged its first surrealism exhibition, FANTASTIC ART, DADA, AND SURREALISM 1937, the museum hosted a discussion on those styles, with Quirt and Salvador Dali as lecturers.

Contemporary Asian art is highly in demand among discriminating collectors, and the Tina Kim Gallery is a showstopper. The late Filipino-American artist, Pacita Abad, whose work is the subject of a major North American traveling retrospective, is currently front and center at MoMA PS1 and included in the 60th Venice Biennale, Foreigners Everywhere, through November 2024. For his Looking Glass, the artist takes the notion of mixed media to a new dimension in that he stitched small mirrors onto his painted canvas.

Abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock is top of the heap when it comes to leading that style, with noted collectors including David Geffen. The London dealership White Cube, which recently opened a commodious gallery on Madison Avenue, is spotlighting Pollock’s distinctive style on paper filled with his distinctive brushwork in graphite, as well as black and colored ink.