International

Sold for $28,000 (£20,820) by Christie’s New York (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on December 5 was this original drawing by Ralph Steadman for the 1971 first appearance of Hunter Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

With options to sell at regular intervals in North America, Europe, Hong Kong or China, the major auction houses and their vendors take a global view of the Asian art market.

Private sales and Asian buyers helped Sotheby’s report a 12% jump in sales last year to $5.5bn (£4bn).

As well as the ‘big three’, a clutch of other US salerooms will be holding specialist Asian art sales in mid March.

Mid March in Manhattan is when the art market turns its cultural and commercial face east. This is the first of two New York Asian auction series (the other is in September), but what distinguishes the spring event, dubbed Asia Week New York (AWNY), is the input of dealer exhibitions.

J’y Reste (I am there) is a clay sculpture evoking a symbolic birth created by Brigitte Moity in her studio at Savigny-sur-Orge, a suburb of Paris.

Tour & Taxis in Brussels is a vast swathe of Victorian industrial warehouses on the city’s canal. The complex includes the former train station and its spacious central hall, a long-disused international postal and customs office with links to the German Thurn and Taxis family.

To inject new blood into the senior ranks of TEFAF exhibitors, the fair’s organisers allow younger dealers, some from non-traditional disciplines, to do a live audition each year in the Showcase section. Kate Quill finds out what this tough test involves...

Printed in Mexico in 1787, but promoted as the first book in English printed west of the Mississippi, a slim work of just 14 leaves in contemporary paper wrappers called A Short Abridgment to Christian Doctrine was one of the rarer items offered in a recent California sale.

Lifting the lid on what it takes to be an exhibitor at a TEFAF fair, ATG asked three dealers – one American, one British and one German – to chart their preparations, concerns and hopes as they head to Maastricht for the 2018 event. Compiled by Lisa Johnson.

The TEFAF Art Symposium 2018 will focus on collecting in the 21st century.

Auction Technology Group (ATG) – owner of Antiques Trade Gazette and thesaleroom. com – has merged with German art and antiques portal Lot-tissimo.com.

Glide through the richly carpeted, calm corridors of a TEFAF fair and it’s easy to be oblivious to the frenetic preparations that have led exhibitors to this pivotal moment in their sales calendar.

TEFAF exhibitors give their views on where ‘the greatest art show on earth’ stands today and its future. Peter Crush reports on ATG's latest 'Round Table' discussion.

Whether it’s an object saved for years or an item secured only yesterday, TEFAF will boast a wide range for sale.