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    • Posts Tagged ‘Christie’s Paris’

    OSCAR’S OWN COPY OF SALOME AT CHRISTIE’S IN PARIS

    Wednesday, October 15th, 2025

    CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2024. UPDATE: THIS SOLD ONLINE FOR €850,000

    The most desirable copy imaginable of Salomé by Oscar Wilde will highlight an online sale of books and manuscripts by Christie’s Paris from October 22-November 5. Wilde’s own copy is illuminated with original ink drawings by the English essayist, parodist and caricaturist Max Beerbohm — several depicting the author himself — created especially for him. Wilde later gave this copy to his lover Robert Ross with a signed autograph inscription.

    The play is enriched with an original autograph poem by the Pierre Louÿs, the French novelist and poet renowned for expressing pagan sensuality with stylish perfection. Christie’s say that this copy brings together all the qualities sought after by a true bibliophile: an original edition of the text, first published in French in 1893, having been censored in England; an association copy with perfect provenance, from the author to his lover; and additional original drawings making the copy even more unique. In this instance, Oscar Wilde himself acts as a bibliophile, transforming this copy into a unique and singular work.

    It is estimated at €100,000-€150,000.

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    MONUMENTAL KLEIN WORK TO HIGHLIGHT CHRISTIE’S PARIS SALE

    Monday, September 29th, 2025

    Yves Klein (1928-1962), California, (IKB 71), 1961  © Christie’s Images Limited 2025. UPDATE: THIS MADE 18,375,000

    California, (IKB 71) will highlight Christie’s Avant-Garde(s) including Thinking Italian sale on October 23 during Paris Art Week. This exceptional monumental work measuring over four metres embodies the radical spirit and true inventiveness of Yves Klein. Returning to the city where it was created, and appearing at auction for the first time, California, (IKB 71) ranks among the most important works by Yves Klein to ever come to market.

    With his signature International Klein Blue pigment, Klein sought to dissolve boundaries, inviting viewers to take an imaginative leap into an immaterial realm. The enveloping, immersive power of his monochromes places Yves Klein’s practice among the most ambitious of the second half of the 20th century, alongside leading figures of American Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting.  It was last seen in public during its long-term loan to the? Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 2005 to 2008.  

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    ARTIST RARELY SEEN AT AUCTION TO HIGHLIGHT SALE AT CHRISTIE’S IN PARIS

    Friday, March 14th, 2025

    SOPHIE TAEUBER-ARP (1889-1943) – Relief rond en quatre hauteurs (Round relief in four heights) © Christie’s Images Limited 2025 

    This painting by Sophie Taeuber-Arp – one of the major figures of modernity – is a highlight at Christie’s stand alone auction in Paris on April 8 of the collection Funck-Brentano. In 2021 and 2022, Living Abstraction – a retrospective organised jointly by the Kunstmuseum Basel, Tate London and MoMA in New York – and the Elles font l’abstraction exhibition at the Centre Pompidou confirmed her key role in the history of art. The power and significance of multidisciplinary work by Taeuber-Arp have had a lasting and profound influence on contemporary artists and designers.  The art market has shown a keen interest and the work is rare at auction.

    Completed in 1937, Relief rond en quatre hauteurs was acquired directly from the artist’s studio by Michel Seuphor, who donated it to the Funck-Brentanos in 1987, as a gesture of gratitude. It is estimated at €1.9 – €2.5 million. Ten wooden reliefs by Sophie Taeuber-Arp are known and only three are still in private hands. The record for a work by Sophie Taeuber-Arp, set in 2003 in Paris, is €1.2 million. 

    Born in Germany Liselotte Kahn (1929-2020) was initially stateless when she arrived in France in 1936, and found refuge in Switzerland. A childhood spent in exile led to deep-seated European convictions, which she shared throughout her life with Roland Funck-Brentano (1929-2013), whom she met whilst studying law at university in Paris.  In 1954 they founded what was to become one of the leading corporate law firms in Paris, deeply involved in the internationalisation of law and specialised in the development of European Community legislation.

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    FROM BRUEGHEL TO EDO AT CHRISTIE’S IN PARIS

    Tuesday, January 28th, 2025

    Pieter Brueghel the Younger – The Peasant Wedding Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD – THE SALE OF THE COLLECTION MADE €10 million

    The Peasant Wedding, a masterpiece by Pieter Brueghel the Younger, comes up at Christie’s in Paris on March 27 with an estimate of €1.5-€2.5 million. The success of The Peasant Wedding in its day led to several versions of it being produced after a model by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, which today is in the collections of Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum.  The version presented in this auction is the only one known to date to be signed and dated (1622) out of four listed versions. 

    It is a highlight of the Onzea-Govaerts Collection. This varied collection of objects and works of art was assembled from the 1970s onwards by Joris Onzea and Suzanne Govaerts who developed a model for furniture and interior design shops that was far ahead of its time. The CASA concept has been widely adopted and has enjoyed an unrivalled and unquestionable following.

    Their collection is curated by renowned gallery owner and interior designer Baron Axel Vervoordt. Flemish masterpieces appear alongside Egyptian artefacts, African and Asian art, contemporary works and classical furniture. This fusion of styles and cultures reflects Vervoordt’s philosophy of combining the old and the new to create unique spaces and atmospheres. The collection of 150 lots is estimated to fetch between 7 million and 12 million euros.

     17th-century Edo period folding screen (€20,000 – €30,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd.

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    WORLD RECORD PRICE FOR A PIECE OF FURNITURE BY DIEGO GIACOMETTI

    Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024

    DIEGO GIACOMETTI (1902-1985) – CONSOLE PROMENADE DES AMIS

    There was a new world record for Diego Giacometti at Christie’s in Paris today when his witty design console featuring a horse and three dogs meeting under a tree sold for €9.5 million. It was from the collection of Lady Mercia Harrison, widow of the actor Rex Harrison. Four works from her collection directly from the artist’s studio achieved €12.3 million. The top price marks an auction record for a piece of design in France in 2024 at a sale which saw solid results and totalled €19.4 million.

    The first time Lady Mercia Harrison saw furniture by Diego Giacometti was at a cocktail party in Zurich. ‘They were so beautiful I started to cry,’ she says. ‘There was something so joyous about them.’ She begged her host for Giacometti’s telephone number, but was warned that he had a thick book of orders which he ignored, and was not interested in meeting collectors.

    Undeterred, she phoned the artist. ‘I didn’t want to address him as “Monsieur”, so I called him “Maître”, which he thought hilarious, and I think it broke the ice.’ Even so, Giacometti rejected her invitation to lunch, so she got on a plane to Paris. ‘I rang the bell of his studio on Rue Hippolyte-Maindron and said: “I am Mercia Harrison, would you like to have lunch with me?” He was so surprised that he agreed.’ It was the start of an unlikely friendship between the furniture-maker and the wife of a world-famous British actor. The nonagenarian is still very much the art lover, with a keen grasp on the contemporary art world. She believes that her friendship with Giacometti was based on their mutual non-conformity.

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    CHRISTIE’S TO AUCTION ARTWORK RECOVERED BY THE MONUMENT MEN

    Friday, October 25th, 2024

    Left: Neuschwanstein, Germany, May 1945 The Monument Men recovering looted art by the Nazis Right: Nicolas de Largillierre Portrait de femme a mi-corps, estimate €50,000-80,000 to be auctioned on 21 November in Paris. UPDATE: THIS WAS SOLD FOR €529,200

    A painting recovered by the Monument Men will be auctioned at Christie’s in Paris on November 21. Nicolas de Largillierre Portrait de femme a mi-corps, painted around the turn of the 18th century, will be part of the Old Masters sale in Paris. It is part of an iconic photograph taken in May 1945 on the steps of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, showing James J. Rorimer of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archive Section together with three soldiers of the 7th US Army, holding three of the many works of art looted by the Germans.  Looted from the bank vault of Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988) in Arcachon in late 1940 and transferred to the Jeu de Paume in Paris in February 1941, the portrait was recovered by the Monuments Men in May 1945, days before the end of World War II. It was officially restituted to the Rothschild family on May 3, 1946 and remained in their collection until 1978 when it was bought at auction by today’s owner. The Monument Men were greatly helped by Rose Valland (1898-1980), a French art historian and curator at the Jeu de Paume in Paris and a member of the Resistance. During the German occupation of Paris (1940-44) the Jeu de Paume served as warehouse for many works of looted art.  Valland secretly recorded details of art plundered by the Nazis.

    The Monuments Men and Women Foundation will launch the first ever English edition of Front de l’Art [The Art Front] – Valland’s pioneering work, first published in French in 1961, at Christie’s in New York on December 10. Rose Valland was awarded multiple honors, inluding the médaille de la Résistance française (1946). She was named Officer of the Légion d’honneur, and Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Abroad, she was awarded the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1948) and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1972), becoming one of the most decorated French women ever.

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    A SALE OF THE SURREAL AT CHRISTIE’S IN PARIS

    Thursday, August 29th, 2024

    A surreal collection described by Christie’s as a true theatre of the imagination that perfectly captures its founders’ creativity and intellectual curiosity comes up in Paris on September 24. A total of 150 lots from the collection of Paul and Jacqueline Duchein of Montauban will come under the hammer. Artists featured include Marie Toyen, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Wolfgang Paalen, André Breton, Salvador Dalí, Victor Brauner, Josef Sima and Man Ray. Their collection combines Surrealism with folk art, Art Brut, and tribal art and their home, illustrated here, would become a cabinet of curiosities, rapidly earning a reputation as the city’s second major museum alongside the Musée Ingres Bourdelle. Highlights of the sale include Flux et reflux de la nuit by Marie Cermínovà, also known as Toyen (€800,000–1,200,000), and Trois monstres ou la Horde, a remarkable oil on canvas painted by Max Ernst in 1927 (€400,000–600,000). The global estimate is €4.6-7 million.

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    LEGENDARY LALANNE DEBUTS AT CHRISTIE’S IN PARIS

    Friday, September 1st, 2023
    FRANÇOIS-XAVIER LALANNE (1927-2008) – RHINOCRÉTAIRE I ©Christie’s Images Limited 2023. Photographe : Freddy Persson. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR €18,335,000

    Christie’s will offer Rhinocrétaire I, the first major sculpture by François-Xavier Lalanne— widely considered to be the artist’s most important work— in a single-lot auction in Paris on October 20. Contained within the armoured body of the animal is a hidden secretary desk, bar, safe and lamps—Lalanne’s ingenious interpretation of a classic theme in the legacy of French decorative arts— furniture with secret compartments. In Rhinocrétaire I, the artist has wittily imbued this heritage with an avant-garde and very modern twist.

    Heralding an extraordinary artistic career, Rhinocrétaire I stands as a seminal prototype in François-Xavier Lalanne’s œuvre: all the elements that would become the hallmark of the artist’s work are present. These would later culminate in his Moutons de Laine, Bar Les Autruches, Baignoires Hippopotame, and Bar YSL. Rhinocrétaire I encapsulates, prefigures, and sets the tone for the poetic excess and whimsy that would define the artist’s signature for the next forty-four years. In creating this rhinoceros, François-Xavier Lalanne knew he was following in the footsteps of some of the world’s greatest artists, from the representations of animals in the Paleolithic cave paintings at Lascaux, to works by Dalí or Dürer. As in the famous engraving by the German master, the rhinoceros does not simulate its real-life counterpart. However, it is Lalanne’s expressive mastery of the metal that truly gives life to the sculpture.

    With a pre-sale estimate of €4,000,000–6,000,000, this stunning work will be the focus of a dedicated exhibition at Christie’s Paris this fall, and a limited-edition catalogue will be available in early October.

    FRANÇOIS-XAVIER LALANNE (1927-2008) – RHINOCRÉTAIRE I ©Christie’s Images Limited 2023. Photographe : Freddy Persson

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    A KNEELING MAN IN PROFILE BY RUBENS AT CHRISTIE’S

    Sunday, March 12th, 2023

    A Study of a Kneeling Man in Profile by Peter Paul Rubens will be among the highlights at Christie’s annual Old Master and 19th Century Drawings sale in Paris on March 22. Drawing inspiration from Caracci and other Italian greats this work is an example of the Italian influence that remained with Rubens long after his return to Antwerp. The delicate study was created using one of his favourite techniques, black chalk accentuated with white.   Drawings by Rubens rarely appear and this one was last on the market in 1867. The estimate is €250,000-€350,000.  The auction, with works spanning more than 400 years of European art, will coincide with the opening of the Salon du Dessin in Paris, the foremost fair dedicated to drawing and now a major international event. Image © Christie’s Images Limited 2023. UPDATE: THIS MADE €378,000 at hammer.

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    CLAUDE LALANNE MIRROR TOPS CHRISTIE’S PARIS DESIGN SALE

    Wednesday, November 30th, 2022
    CLAUDE LALANNE (1925-2019) – UNIQUE MIRROR SOLD FOR €978,000?

    This mirror, a unique piece by Claude Lalanne, sold for €978,000 at Christie’s design sale in Paris yesterday. The 140 lot sale brought together some of the greatest names in 20th Century French design: from Pierre Chareau, Jean Royère and Charlotte Perriand to Philippe Starck, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, Maria Pergay, Mathieu Matégot and Line Vautrin. The auction brought in €5.6 million over a top estimate of €4.8 million. It was 81% sold by lot with 55% making more than the high estimate.

    Christie’s will offer the collection of Marie Lalanne, daughter of Francois-Xavier and Claude Lalanne, in New York on December 7. The largest collection of Lalanne ever to be sold in the US will offer more than 150 lots, including sculpture, furniture, jewellery, handbags and dinner services. Among the leading lots is Gorilla Console by Francois-Xavier Lalanne ($1-$1.5 million) which carries the signature humour of the artist: the title is a play on the notion that gorillas are inconsolable by the fact that they will never be fully human. Here, the gorilla has chosen to console himself through becoming a console table.

    UPDATE: THE NEW YORK SALE MADE $77,043,008. It was 100% sold, 319% above low estimate, with 88% of lots selling above the high estimate.

    FRANÇOIS-XAVIER LALANNE (1927-2008) – Gorille Consolé. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $3,420,000

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