With a total of €1.7 million, the Modern and Contemporary Art sale offers very good results in the fields of post-war abstraction, raw art and contemporary art.
The most beautiful auctions of the evening were for works proposed in a chapter devoted to abstract art. Pieces by French masters such as Maurice Estève, Georges Mathieu and Jean-Paul Riopelle, all of excellent provenance and very well dated, won a live auction. Jean-Paul Riopelle's oil on canvas Alexandropolis (1923-2002), dated 1959, is awarded €226,000 out of an estimated 120,000 / 180,000 €. Biclu, oil on canvas by Maurice Estève (1904-2001) is sold for 201 200 euros. Indian abstraction has also sparked some great bidding battles, Sayed Haider Raza's Mine acquired directly from the artist by the current owner is sold for 226 000 €. Impetuous and intense, Georges Mathieu's painting La libération d'Orléans by Joan of Arc is an energy discharge where colour is applied by large brushstrokes but also by direct pressure of the tubes against the canvas. Estimated at 50 000 / 70 000 €, it is sold for 65 000 €.
"These excellent results show that the post-war market is doing very well and that it is still looking for rare pieces from private collections" commented Florence Latieule, Director of the Modern and Contemporary Art Department since November 2017.
A chapter was also composed of important works from the Support-Surface movement. First of all, a work by Jean-Pierre Pincemin (1944-2005) awarded €65,000 out of an estimated €35,000 / €45,000. PIASA, which achieved excellent results in 2015 with the movement known as the ultimate French avant-garde, is once again performing well and plans a new dedicated Support-Surface sale in autumn 2018.
A world record to note for Philippe Dereux's Les Bagnards, extremely well dated, 1977, this significant piece of art brut flies away at 41 600 € out of an estimated 4 000/6 000 €.
Let us also mention the excellent results for Greek art with Phaëton by Alecos Fassianos sold for €50,700; or the set of six chairs from Ai Wei Wei Wei's performance at the Documenta in Cassel in 2007, Fairytale-1001 chairs is acquired for €50,700.
*Estimates are excluding buyer's premium and sales prices including buyer's premium.
TOTAL SALE: €1,700,000
Lot 22: Sayed Haider Raza - 244 600 € - French Private Collection
Lot 13: Jean-Paul Riopelle - 226 000 € - French Private Collection
Lot 38: Maurice Estève - 201 200 € - French Private Collection
Lot 84 : Takis - 68 900 € - Greek Private Collection
Lot 13 - Jean-Paul Riopelle (1923-2002)
Alexandropolis, 1959
Huile sur toile
Signée en bas à droite, contresignée, datée, titrée et annotée au dos sur le chassis
64,5 × 80,5 cm
Provenance : Galerie Jacques Dubourg, Paris - Galerie Bonnier, Lausanne - Ancienne collection particulière, Montréal - Vente Londres, Sotheby's, 25 octobre 2005, lot 206 - Collection particulière, Paris
Result : 226 000 €
Lot 38 - Maurice Estève (1904-2001)
Biclu, 1982
Huile sur toile
Signée et datée en bas à gauche - Contresignée, datée et titrée au dos
130 × 97 cm
Provenance : - Maurice Estève - Galerie Louis Carré & Cie, Paris - Collection particulière, Paris
Result : 201 200 €
Lot 39 - Georges Mathieu (1921-2012)
La libération d'Orléans par Jeanne d'Arc, 1982
Huile sur toile Signée en bas à droite - Contresignée, datée et dédicacée au dos
52 × 132 cm
Provenance : Offert par l'artiste à Régine Pernoud en septembre 1982 -
Transmis à l'actuel propriétaire par descendance familiale
Result : 65 000 €
Lot 125, 126 et 127 - Ai Wei Wei (né en 1957) - Fairytale-1001 chairs, 2007
Ensemble de six chaises des dynasties Qing Signée chacune en pinyin sous l'assise
Dimensions variables Provenance : Collection particulière, Vienne
15 000 / 20 000 € chaque paire –
Result : 53 300 €
