Auctions join in on the party

That effort is proving all the more important now, as Paris is gaining ground compared to London. With the globalisation and digitalisation of the market, “Paris has secured its place for various reasons: the installation of the greatest international galleries, Brexit, and the new landscape of art fairs with FIAC being replaced by a foreign organisation like Art Basel,” states Cécile Verdier, President of Christie’s France. Parisian auction houses are bringing important collections and works to auction which, ten years ago, probably would have been auctioned off in London or New York City. Christie’s – which hopes to do even better than at last year’s session (€75 M) – is presenting several large-scale collections, including the array that Anne and Wolfgang Titze assembled over nearly thirty years. With 39 works touching upon minimalism and contemporary abstraction, this sale – of which the proceeds will go to the creation of a foundation that will manage the collection – is estimated between 20 and 30 million euros. “The Franco-Austrian owners have decided to present this collection in Paris, which has become a true international hub in their eyes,” the president asserts. One of the remarkable works brought to auction is Okinawa, Waldstück by Gerhard Richter (1969), marking a period of transition between photographic realism and abstraction (est. €4 M). Meanwhile, no fewer than three auctions will be dedicated to dispersing the collection of the Sam Josefowitz, in addition to London (during Frieze), Paris and New York City. The Parisian session will concentrate on modern art and the Pont-Aven School, including Sancta Martha by Maurice Denis (est. €700,000 to 1 M). In the interim, Christie’s is orchestrating its annual sale, “Avant-garde(s)” (including “Thinking Italian”), which will present, among much else, Peinture (Femme, Lune, Étoiles) by Joan Miró (1949), which hung in the legendary hotel-restaurant La Colombe d’Or in Saint-Paul de Vence. As for Sotheby’s, it will hold three auctions, including one online sale and another specialising in Impressionist and modern art. Its annual event, “Modernités” (October 19th), features the most highly estimated lot of the week, La Valse hésitation, an oil-on-canvas by René Magritte (1955) estimated at between 10 and 15 million euros. The piece has not come to the market since 1979 at an exhibition at the Isy Brachot gallery in Belgique. This is the highest estimation of any object ever presented at a public auction at Sotheby’s in France. Not to be outdone, Artcurial in London brings to auction “a collection from a London apartment” on October 20th. It took twenty years to collect this array, which includes modern artists such as Berthe Morisot and Pierre Bonnard, contemporary names such as Peter Doig (including Driveway, 1997, est. €300,000 to 500,000), as well as period furniture and antique art objects. This is also a key moment in design, since the Design Miami / Paris fair will present its first edition [see page 14], followed closely by several other sales in the same vein. Christie’s stands out with an auction including a unique lot, a Rhinocrétaire I, by François-Xavier Lalanne (1964) from the collection of the gallery owner Jeanine Restany, who presented it at her gallery that same year (est. €4 to 6 M). Three days before that, on October 17th, De Baecque & associés will hold an auction at Hôtel Drouot featuring the collection that Jean Prouvé kept at his house in Nancy, including chairs known as Standard, circa 1950, and a Visiteur à lattes armchair, circa 1940 (est. €80,000 to 120,000). Giquello & associés will present another prominent auction (October 20th), seizing upon “the 30th anniversary of the release of the film Jurassic Park in France, as well as the presence of an incredible inpouring of art enthusiasts drawn by Paris+,” explains Alexandre Giquello, to propose the sale of Barry, the skeleton of a camptosaurus. The 150-million-year-old bones are the most complete set ever brought to auction (est. €800,000 to 1.2 M), so this specimen could attract a number of eager bidders.