PARIS.- Christie's Impressionist & Modern Art Week in Paris featured a selection of museum-quality works in four sales, including Man Ray dans la Collection Marion Meyer and the final Parisian act with the Sam Josefowitz Collection.
The market demonstrates solidity, with nearly 96% of lots sold, totaling €25.7m across four sales that exceeded the high estimate, 51% of lots sold above their high estimate, a robust rate of new buyers, bidders from more than 44 countries.
The reaffirmation of interest in female artists comes with a new world auction record for Françoise Gilot's Le Concert Champêtre, fetching €1.3 million, over six times its estimated value. Alongside Berthe Morisot's La Petite Fille au Cheveux Blonds, which more than doubled its estimate, this record confirms the growing prominence of women artists.
The enduring interest in Impressionism and modern art was reflected in the outstanding results achieved by works from a Swiss collection never before seen on the market, including pieces by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley. A work by André Derain, a symbol of the emergence of Fauvism, sold for €3.1m; two works by Albert Marquet doubled their estimate; Cubist artists from “la section d’or” Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger performed excellently, and the enthusiastic response from the public to pre-sale exhibitions.
Surrealist works also performed strongly, with two works by Victor Brauner tripling their estimate. Man Ray further cements his status as one of the most iconic figures of the surrealist movement, as demonstrated by the Man Ray dans la Collection de Marion Meyer, which surpassed all expectations. Enthusiasts showed keen interest in acquiring these works, leading to fiercely contested bidding wars that far exceeded estimations. The sale saw strong participation, reflecting the enduring allure and invaluable significance of this master of surrealism's body of work. The sale totaled 4.7m€, thus reaffirming Man Ray's influence on the world of modern and contemporary art. One of the highlights of the auction was a lot containing two autograph letters signed to Man Ray on "MoUvEmEnT DADA" headed paper, dated 1921, which fetched ten times its high estimate. A serigraphy of the famous photograph Le Violon d'Ingres by Man Ray, which set a record of $12.4 million in 2022 in New York, depicting Kiki de Montparnasse, was sold for €120,000 in Paris, doubling its high estimate.
A highlight during Art Impressioniste et Moderne was Opus 8, Construction mécanique ou L'Usine de papiers peints by Belgian artist Victor Servranckx (1897-1965). From a French collection, this painting set a new world record for a work by the artist, quadrupling its initial estimate to fetch €403,200.
An exceptional performance has seen for Le recueillement, a pre-symbolist work by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898), which surpassed its estimate by more than ninefold, achieving one of the most spectacular results of the week at €277,200.
Antoine Lebouteiller, director of the Impressionist and Modern Art department in Paris, and Valérie Didier, director of evening sales for Impressionist and Modern Art and collections, stated, "The successes of our four auctions celebrate the various cultural milestones of 2024, such as the 150th anniversary of the birth of Impressionism, with strong results achieved for Renoir, Morisot, and Sisley, but also the 100th anniversary of the Surrealist Manifesto, underscored by the success of the sale of works from the Marion Meyer collection by Man Ray. Realizing over €3 million, the 1905 André Derain painting, Matisse, and Terrus, which embodies the cradle of Fauvism, confirms its museum quality. While in Paris, the Picasso Museum dedicates a new room to the recently deceased Françoise Gilot, we are particularly pleased with the new world record for the painting "Concert Champêtre," painted in 1953, sold for €1.3 million, more than six times its estimate. The results of this week demonstrate the depth and appetite of the international art market, not only for the great names of the late 19th and 20th centuries, but also for more confidential artists, such as Victor Servranckx, for whom a new world record was established with his painting, "Opus 8, Mechanical Construction" from 1922, sold for €403,200."
