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  • Posts Tagged ‘Gourdon Collection’

    CHATEAU de GOURDON COLLECTION BRINGS IN 42,387,113

    Friday, April 1st, 2011

    The Chateau de Gourdon Collection realised 42,387,113 at Christie’s in Paris.  One of the finest private collections of early 20th century decorative art and design ever offered at auction was disposed of in a landmark series of five sales over three days at the Palais de Tokyo.  It was sold 84% by lot and 84% by value. The 860 lots at the Palais de Tokyo had a minimum estimate of 40 million euros.

    The sale viewing drew over 17,000 visitors in four days.  Buyers were 75 per cent European, 21 per cent American, two per cent Asian and one per cent Middle Eastern.

    See antiquesandartireland.com posts for March 30 and December 3.


    INAUGURAL SESSION OF GOURDON COLLECTION BRINGS IN 24,293,400

    Wednesday, March 30th, 2011

    This screen by Eileen Gray made 1,353,000 at Christie's in Paris. (click on image to enlarge)

    The inaugural session of 20th century masterpieces from the Gourdon Collection at Christie’s in Paris brought in €24,293,400.  The top lot of the opening day of the three day sale was a chaise longue ‘on skis’ created in 1929 by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann. It made €2,865,000.
    The visionary designs of Irish designer Eileen Gray captivated the imagination of many during the public viewings at Palais de Tokyo. Gray’s black-lacquered ‘Brick’ screen  circa 1922 made €1,353,000. Her ‘Bibendum’ armchair which clearly evokes the logo of tire-manufacturer Michelin made €709,000.
    No less than eight works of art sold made over €1 million and there were five world records for artists.  These included the Ruhlmann chaise longue, a carpet by Fernand Léger at €169,000, a carpet by Francis Bacon at €109,000 , a work by René Coulon at €85,000 and furniture by Louis Majorelle at €1,162,600.
    The remaining four sessions of the sale take place today and tomorrow.
    SEE antiquesandartireland.com post for December 3
    UDATE:  Overall this sale brought in 42.38 million euro over five sessions.

    EILEEN GRAY AT CHRISTIE’S SALE OF THE GOURDON COLLECTION IN PARIS

    Friday, December 3rd, 2010

    Eileen Gray's Black lacquer screen, courtesy of Christie's, estimated at up to 1.5 million euro. (click to enlarge) UPDATE: IT MADE 1,353,000

    IRISH designer Eileen Gray (1879-1976) is one of the leading names featured

    The Bibendum armchair by Eileen Gray, courtesy of Christie's images. (click to enlarge) UPDATE: IT MADE 709,000

    in an extraordinary collection to be sold at Christie’s in Paris in March 2011. Christie’s will offer the Gourdon Collection, estimated to achieve between 40 and 60 million euro, at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris on March 29, 30 and 31.

    Housed at the medieval Château de Gourdon near Grasse the collection focuses principally on the classicism of Art Deco and on the emergence of Modernism in France.  It includes an important group of works by Eileen Gray. Celebrated as a single-minded and individualistic character the County Wexford born designer managed to capture and express in her own way the prevailing spirit of the age in design through the first decades of the 20th century.
    In February 2009  her  ‘dragons’ chair, circa 1917-1919 –  see Design Record on antiquesandartireland.com – achieved the record sum of  €21 million at the sale of the Yves Saint Laurent-Pierre Bergé collections at the Grand Palais.
    In the early 1920s Gray choose to move away from the highly refined lacquer work of her early days to focus on more functionalist designs in metal, glass and painted wood, inspired at first by the Modernist ideas of the Dutch De Stjil movement.
    No less than 15 works by Eileen Gray featured in this sale include the black lacquered Brick’ screen (est. 1,200,000-1,500,000) developed from the panels she used in the hallway of the apartment of Suzanne Talbot on Rue de Lota, circa 1922. An example of this screen is now in the master bedroom of the Irish government mansion at Farmleigh in Dublin. The black and yellow base of her floor light (€400,000-600,000) resembles a piece of Constructivist architecture.
    Her Transatlantique armchair (€1,000,000-1,500,000) was formerly the property of her friend and collaborator architect Jean Badovici, founder of the avant-garde magazine L’Architecture Vivante, 1923 and the ‘Bibendum’ armchair (€800,000-1,200,000) is clearly evocative of the logo of tire-manufacturer Michelin.