This year 91 of the finest dealers and galleries from 13 countries and 4 continents will offer museum-quality works, vetted by experts in their respective fields. The diversity works and highest standards attracts an international crowd to this anchor of New York's art community.
Presented by Galleria d'Arte Maggiore G.a.m. (Stand 369)
Meret Oppenheim, Souvenir du Déjeneur en fourrure, 1970. Prototype, cup and spoon on fake fur, imitation of damask under domed oval glass. 17 x 20 x 5 inches (43,2 x 50,8 x 12,7 cm)
It began with a joke over lunch. In 1936, Meret Oppenheim was at a Paris café with Dora Maar and Pablo Picasso, who noticed the fur-lined, polished metal bracelet she was wearing and joked that anything could be covered with fur, "even this cup and saucer". Her devilish imagination duly sparked, the artist went to a department store, bought a white teacup, saucer, and titled this ensemble Object. In doing so, she transformed items traditionally associated with decorum and feminine refinement into a confounding Surrealist sculpture.
Souvenir du Déjeneur en fourrure is the closest artwork to the most famous work by surrealist artist Meret Oppenheim, Object, 1936, which is part of the permanent collection of the MoMA. It is one of the two prototypes realized by the artist and the only one on the market.