By surprise, Bart Drenth has stepped down as Global Managing Director of the European Fine Arts Fair (TEFAF). He had just been appointed to this position in December last year.
The departure from Drenth, first reported by ART news, comes less than six months after he was appointed to the role in December last year. As soon as he was hired, he became the fourth director of the fair in three years.
The timing of the move will also raise eyebrows for another reason. Last Friday, Artnet News “Wet Paint” columnist Annie Armstrong reported on the history of Drenth to use his personal Twitter account to express provocative views on Muslims, leftists, and “woke” culture, among other sensitive topics.
“Just like in the 1978 Iranian revolution, leftist benefactors stand hand in hand with jihadists. Not knowing that after the success of the revolution they will die first,” Drenth, who is based in Amsterdam, wrote last August.
“Woke is the New Westboro: Hyper-Calvinist Merchants,” read one article. “Really, your L+ rights are better protected if you wave Palestinian flags in the pride parade,” another continued.
Managing director of the international art fair TEFAF, Bart Drenth, speaks to the press in Maastricht on June 28, 2022. Photo: Marcel van Hoorn/ANP/AFP via Getty Images.
“My Twitter feed expresses my personal views and I separate it from my work at TEFAF,” the former manager said when asked by Armstrong about these and other controversial posts. “So I won’t comment on that.” (Drenth has since made his account private.)
A TEFAF press release announcing Drenth’s departure said the outgoing director planned to focus on his consultancy, Bart Drenth Advies. He didn’t mention Armstrong’s “Wet Paint” column or Drenth’s tweets.
“Bart joined TEFAF at a time of great upheaval and transition brought on by the pandemic when the art market and fairs were just getting back to business. Despite these challenges, Bart’s leadership, budgetary discipline and efforts to align and structure the team have led to TEFAF’s stability and progress,” said Hidde van Seggelen, Chairman of the TEFAF Executive Committee, in a statement. “The Board wishes Bart every success in his future endeavours, and thanks him for his service to TEFAF.”
Drenth served as the director of TEFAF on an interim basis for 10 months before being officially hired in the role. Previously, he held leadership positions in various Dutch cultural organizations, including the artists’ rights organization Pictoright and the Museum Volkenkunde.
TEFAF’s press release noted that the organization’s board “will announce its leadership plan for the foundation and two international art fairs in the coming weeks.”
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