Hotels in Brussels may have taken a hit in the wake of the Belgian capital’s security lockdown in November, following the terrorist attacks in Paris, but the 61st edition of the Brafa Art Fair (23-31 January) nevertheless drew a record 58,000 people—3,000 more than in 2015—to the largest edition of the event to date. Although one German gallery pulled out over security concerns, the fair still had 11 more exhibitors than last year’s 126 participants.
After the preview day, Noach Vander Beken of Axel Vervoodt said he was “dangerously relaxed”, following numerous sales of 20th-century furniture and Egyptian and Yemeni antiquities. Typical of Brafa’s haute époque forte was De Backker Medieval Art’s imposing pair of 15th-century doors, probably Spanish, which opened to reveal a life-sized, 14th-century wooden statue of St Sebastian from Romagna or Lombardy. The doors are destined for a German museum and the saint was snapped up for a Parisian collection.
Although the fair boasts a rich array of art, its offerings of Modern and contemporary pieces are best described as hit and miss. However, an interesting injection of quality was found on the shared stand of Dierking (Zurich), Frank Landau (Frankfurt) and Thomas Salis (Salzburg), which mixed tribal art with 20th- and 21st-century furniture and art. Highlights included a demountable house (1944-45) by Jean Prouvé, produced to house the homeless in post-war France (Dierking; €950,000), and Paul Delvaux’s large Surrealist work La grande allée (1964), with Salis (€3.3m). Both attracted much attention, but reportedly no buyers.