Tefaf Maastricht cancels March fair due to continuing travel restrictions—new 2022 date to be confirmed

Tefaf Maastricht, one of Europe’s biggest art fairs and the pre-eminent event for Old Masters and antiques, has been forced to postpone its March 2022 edition as the Omicron variant of Covid-19 spreads across the world.

The European Fine Art Foundation (Tefaf), which owns and runs the fair, made the decision in a board meeting this afternoon and will announce a new date in the coming weeks.

Tefaf’s chairman, Hidde van Seggelen, tells The Art Newspaper that “it was a difficult decision to make, but due to travel restrictions and various limitations across Europe due to Covid-19, the whole board felt it was too limiting to be able to hold the event.” The new date for 2022 is undecided but will be “outside the [winter] danger zone months of Covid”, van Seggelen says.

In a statement, he adds that the decision was “guided by three key concerns: first is the unpredictable nature of Covid-19; second, the significant financial risk to both Tefaf and our exhibitors should the fair be cancelled in the lead up to March; and third is, as always, the health and safety of the Tefaf community, our exhibitors, visitors, sponsors and partners”.

In an email sent to exhibitors on 4 December setting out various scenarios and reiterating Tefaf’s cancellation policy, van Seggelen said around 270 exhibitors had confirmed participation in the March event.

The email stated that if exhibitors decided to pull out of the event after 10 December, they would have to pay full general costs and stand rental to Tefaf. The email continued that if the fair was not cancelled by today, 15 December, but was later forced to cancel at a later date due to stricter regulations: “Tefaf does not guarantee a refund. Depending on our P&L we will see if and what we can refund.”

That statement went down like a lead balloon with many galleries, as they stood to lose anything from €40,000 to €80,000-plus in stand rental costs.

However, as Tefaf itself has now taken the decision to cancel, exhibitors will receive a full refund for stand rental, but will be asked to pay a fixed sum of €7,500, which is needed for the foundation to cover “expenses [including salaries and marketing costs] and other contractual obligations,” according to the email.

This request caused consternation among certain exhibitors and some, particularly a group of French dealers, reacted angrily. Yesterday, Le Journal des Arts reported that at least 30 exhibitors had withdrawn as a result of the email’s demands. The French trade association, the CPGA (the Comité Professionnel des Galeries d’Art), said one dealer had called it “scandalous” and told Le Journal: “It’s pure and simple swindling.”

Others think the €7,500 payment requested is reasonable. Bob Albricht of Kunstgalerij Albricht, in Amsterdam, tells The Art Newspaper: “This has always been in the contract and I think it’s only fair—a lot of dealers have made a lot of money through exhibiting at Tefaf over the years and €7,500 is not much to pay to keep the foundation going.”

Van Seggelen says: “We are a non-profit foundation, we cannot underwrite the fair—we have a team of 18 staff and so far have had to cancel or postpone five fairs [in Maastricht and New York] due to the pandemic, so we need to have the funds to continue.”

Asked if Tefaf has event cancellation insurance, van Seggelen says: “You cannot actually buy insurance to protect against the pandemic now.”

Tefaf Maastricht last ran in March 2020 when it was forced to close four days early when an exhibitor tested positive for Covid-19. Shortly afterwards, most of the world went into lockdown. This year, the fair was postponed from March to May and then to September before being cancelled altogether.