PARIS, FRANCE.- Sotheby's announced the sale of selected works from the Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert collection. A total of 145 lots including sculpture, paintings and photographs are estimated to fetch between €3-4 million. The sale brings together artists that Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert have supported over a period of nearly thirty years.

Marked by exceptional encounters from which they drew inspiration, Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert were always guided by an innovative spirit, passion and a firm commitment to the richness and complexity of contemporary art. Their gallery, which was considered one of the best in Paris, was the first to be the subject of an exhibition organised by a French institution. In 2004, the Museum of Grenoble organised a retrospective of the gallery's twenty-nine years.

Sotheby's sale will offer collectors an opportunity to acquire works by major 20th century artists, whose current reputation owes much to the efforts of Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert.

In 1968, Michel Durand-Dessert visited Documenta, the renowned international contemporary art exhibition in Germany. He was fascinated by the German art scene, which was very active at the time thanks to artists such as Beuys. Together with Liliane Durand-Dessert, who was then a professor of French literature, they decided to open their first gallery in Rue de Montmorency in 1975. Extensive travels in Europe ensued, in order to build up a sound knowledge of the international art scene during a period when Paris continued to focus on French or English creations. In 1982, the couple left Rue de Montmorency and opened a new gallery in Rue des Haudriettes, which they subsequently left to move into a third, located in Rue de Lappe in 1991.

Starting with their very first exhibition, Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert made a clear-cut decision to opt for art with an international dimension and art works linked to the environment. They also commissioned works specifically for the gallery in order to showcase new artists.

Their first exhibitions were devoted to German artists, for example; Ulrich Rückriem, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Gerhard Richter, with paintings from the famous Tourist series, Hanne Darboven, Reiner Ruthenbeck and Hans Haackle. Liliane and Michel Durand Dessert were the first to organise an exhibition devoted exclusively to Joseph Beuys in France, in 1982, for which he produced one of his last major works: Dernier espace avec introspecteur.

Around the 1980's they exhibited a number of English artists who had received scant support from their own country, such as John Hilliard, David Tremlett, Alan Charlton, Victor Burgin and Barry Flanagan who exhibited his first bronzes at their gallery. There were also American artists, including Dan Graham, Fred Sandback and Joseph Kosuth, and French artists, among them, Christian Boltanski, François Morellet and Gérard Garouste, who exhibited for the first time in 1980. These were followed by the artists of Arte Povera.

It was without doubt Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert who ensured these artists' reputation in France - artsists such as: Pascali, Anselmo, Penone, Merz, Kounellis, Fabro, Boetti and Pistoletto - who highlighted the historical character of Arte Povera. Such exhibitions enabled the artists of this movement to acquire international status through the sale of important works to major museums in the United States, Japan, France and other countries in Europe.

THE COLLECTION - The collection reflects the genuine commitment of the gallery towards its artists over a period of thirty years, with choices revealing an intimately personal taste. From Arte Povera to Gerhard Richter, Barry Flanagan to Ulrich Rückriem, and from Christian Boltanski to François Morellet, the sale will offer key works by these artists who have now become outstanding figures in contemporary art circles.

The heart of this collection is the series of Arte Povera works. Every artist who played a major role in this important movement is represented. La Decapitazione de la sculptura by Pino Pascali is the masterpiece. A legendary work in the career of an artist that was cut short by his death at the young age of 33, La Decapitazione de la sculptura is without question one of the key sculptures of the second half of the 20th century. It belongs to the series of "False Sculptures" in which Pascali recreated a new reality half way between Pop Art and Conceptual Art. An abstract, yet figurative organic form, which is a painting and sculpture at the same time (estimate: €700,000 to 900,000*).

Mimetico by Alighiero e Boetti is part of a series of paintings entitled "Camouflages", displayed in the artist's first solo exhibition at the Christian Stein gallery in Turin in 1967. Referring to these works as his "objects", Boetti always considered this series to be his favourite (estimate: €180,000 to 250,000). Other major Italian artists of interest include Scarpitta, Merz, Fabro, Anselmo, Parmiggiani, Pistoletto, Kounellis and Paolini.

Among French works, Leçons de ténèbres by Christian Boltanski puts memory, time and imagination under the spotlight. There are several versions of this symbolic work, believed to be one of the most celebrated installations by Boltanski (estimate: €25,000 to 35,000). The collection also includes a complete panorama of the work by Gérard Garouste, including Colomba, formerly owned by Leo Castelli (estimate: €50,000 to 70,000).

One of the main highlights of the sale is Gebirge by Gerhard Richter, from the Onnasch collection, dating from 1968. The work was exhibited for nearly ten years at the National Gallery of Berlin and at the Documenta VI in 1976. In charcoal on canvas, it followed immediately after the Stadtbild series, and corresponds to a key period in which the painter moved towards abstraction. Thanks to its dynamic lines, this canvas reveals a new facet of the work of one of the greatest artists of the second half of the 20th century, and it has left an imprint on his more recent canvases (estimate: €240,000 to 280,000).

An ensemble of works by Barry Flanagan, a protean artist who was active on the English scene from the end of the 1960's to the 1980's, is part of the collection. Ball and Claw is one of the first sculptures to highlight the hare, which was to earn this artist his reputation. The entertaining character of this elusive animal, tamed to the point of "preening himself" like a pet, forms a paradoxical contrast with the sculpted stone base: the talon of a bird of prey holding a globe, a traditional sculptural feature of imperial power (estimate: €80,000 to 100,000).

Finally, the sale will include significant minimal and conceptual works by Carl Andre, Daniel Buren, André Cadere, Hanne Darboven, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Dan Graham, Joseph Kosuth, Bertrand Lavier, Michel Parmentier, François Morellet, Ulrich Rückriem, Fred Sandback, Carl Visser and Niele Toroni.

Other aspects of the collection and the history of the gallery will also be illustrated through works by Richard Artschwager, Troy Brauntuch, Marcel Broodthaers, Jacques Charlier, Ger Van Elk, Yan Pei-Ming, George Rousse, Djamel Tatah, Patrick Tosani and William Wegman.