October 2019 – Bruno Claessens

I’m proud to report the catalog for our main fall sale, SPLENDORS, is now available online here.

The sale takes place in Paris on October 30th at 4pm and the viewing days are:

23 Oct, 10am – 6pm
24 Oct, 10am – 6pm
25 Oct, 10am – 6pm
26 Oct, 10am – 6pm
28 Oct, 10am – 6pm
29 Oct, 10am – 4pm

SPLENDORS features an exquisite selection of African and Oceanic art from a princely collection. Build by a gentleman-collector with an incredible eye for quality, this group truly celebrates the art we love so much. SPLENDORS as well features an exceptional private collection of North West Coast art from British Colombia. This unique group of about twenty works took the collector 30 years to assemble and brings together masterpieces from the Haida, Tlingit and neighboring peoples. All objects were meticulously selected and can be considered to be among the best of their kind. It’s a type of collection that only appears on the market once every decade and a not to be missed event. Additionally, we’ll be presenting a select group of fresh-to-the market discoveries, including several objects formerly in the collection of Pierre Matisse among which a previously unknown Ambete statue. I hope to welcome you in Paris for the preview later this month. To match the quality of the objects, we have taken their presentation to a next level, so it surely will be worth a visit. As always, don’t be a stranger and feel free to contact me if I can be of any service.

On October 17th, the African art department of Christie’s Paris is teaming up with their colleagues at the Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art departments for the fourth edition of the highly successful sale concept PARIS AVANT-GARDE. Taking place at the art market’s most dynamic week in France, this sale will for the first time include African art besides and exceptional selection of carefully selected and fresh to the market paintings and sculptures.

Among the artists who had a special relationship to the French capital, Pablo Picasso, René Magritte, André Breton, Max Ernst, Fernand Léger along with Nicolas de Staël, Pierre Soulages, Hans Arp, Jean Dubuffet and Zao Wou-Ki, all will be present with works in this curated sale. As for the African art, we’re proud to present one of the best seated Baule statues known, collected by Roger Bédiat and previously in the collection of Myron Kunin, and an exquisite Baule mask once in the collection of Helena Rubinstein – to which the Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac will dedicate an exhibition in November. You can download a pdf with the African art selection HERE or visit the sale’s page on our website here.

The sale takes place in Paris on October 17th at 7pm and the viewing days are:

12 Oct, 10am – 6pm
13 Oct, 2pm – 6pm
14 Oct, 10am – 6pm
15 Oct, 10am – 6pm
16 Oct, 10am – 6pm
17 Oct, 10am – 4pm

As you can see in the catalog the selection is truly exceptional, and we’re very proud to be the first auction house ever to mix paintings of this quality with top-level African art in a single sale. As always, please don’t hesitate to get in touch if I can be of any assistance. Hope to see you there. As for the catalog for our main sale on October 30th, it should be online in the coming days, you’ll be the first to know so stay tuned.