Christies just announced a sale for a rare art nouveau and art deco collection: the collection from the owner of the Château de Gourdon in the South of France. Housed in the spectacular medieval château de Gourdon near Grasse (a town that doesn't smell like perfume if we may say, quite the contrary). Towering majestically over the Gorges du Loup, this collection of masterpieces had focused principally on the classicism of Art Deco and on the emergence of Modernism in France. Not sure what this means for the future of Château de Gourdon but we admit; it was always a daring match to use this old castle as a museum for this collection to begin with (I guess someone at Christies thought the same when they created a video with a musical score inspired by the movie 'American Beauty' no less). Unusual match for sure, we know, tastes to defer. Anyway, a grand total of 876 lots from the Collections of the Château de Gourdon – among them many true masterpieces – will be sold at Christie’s during three days of auctions at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris, from 29-31 March 2011. While the collection includes Old Master pictures, traditional furniture and works of art, and arms and armour, the principal focus is on the great French masters of design of the first decades of the 20th century, from the great exponents of Art Nouveau and Art Deco to the champions of Modernism.
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| The Bibendum armchair by Eileen Gray |
Estimated to achieve in the range of €32-48 million, the core collection presents such defining icons of the early 20th century as the bedroom suite 'Aux Nénuphars' by Louis Majorelle, the 'Tardieu' desk by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, and Eileen Gray’s 'Brick' screen. The French Modernist movement – the Union des Artistes Modernes – is represented in substantial depth, with over 30 pieces by the UAM chairman, Robert Mallet-Stevens and exemplary works by other key members.
This series of sales from the Château de Gourdon promises to generate as much interest as Christie’s three-day auction of the Collection Yves Saint Laurent et Pierre Bergé in February 2009. The sale of this distinguished collection will be one of the stand-out events of the year.
You can watch the video on the Christies website:
http://www.christies.com
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