Exceptional Works by Armand-Albert Rateau and Alberto Giacometti Lead Phillips Modern Masters and Design Sales on 26 and 27 April in London
LONDON - 19 APRIL 2017 - Phillips is pleased to offer works by the most respected designers from the past century, including Alberto Giacometti, Jean-Michel Frank, Carlo Mollino, Gio Ponti, Jean Prouvé, Armand-Albert Rateau, Jean Royère and Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, among others. These icons of 20th century design are offered alongside exceptional 21st century works by Ron Arad, Joris Laarman, Marc Newson and Young Sook Park. With estimates ranging from £2,000 to £1.5 million, the Modern Masters and Design auctions will take place on 26 and 27 April at Phillips London.
Alexander Payne, Worldwide Head of Design, Deputy Chairman, Europe, said: “This season in London our sales showcase many of the key moments in 20th Century Design, and bring to the fore notable contemporary designers of today. Following on from the successes of last year we have exquisite works of merit particularly from Europe including a unique chandelier by Alberto Giacometti and an important dining suite by Armand-Albert Rateau. The exceptional provenance and quality of these works make them essential additions to any great collection.”
Alberto Giacometti’s unique ceiling light spotlights the artist’s close friendship with a powerhouse of early 20th century arts and culture, the editor Tériade (estimate: £1.5 - 2.5 million). Tériade spent his life promoting art and artists, and without his vision, Matisse would not have created Jazz and subverted the art world with his paper cut-outs. The present ceiling light is one of three unique plaster ceiling lights that Giacometti created for Tériade. Originally installed in Tériade's dining room in his apartment on rue de Rennes in Paris, it is exceptional in its originality but also in its large size, spanning 129 cm in diameter. Giacometti had begun designing plaster lighting in the late 1920s, a period of intense collaboration with designer Jean-Michel Frank, who championed numerous Giacometti designs in notable interiors, including Elsa Schiaparelli's showroom on Place Vendôme (1934); Jean-Pierre Guerlain's apartment (1935) and Jorge Born’s villa, Buenos Aires (1939).
The second work to exceed £1 million is Armand-Albert Rateau’s unique and important dining table and set of ten chairs from the hôtel particulier Thalheimer, Paris (estimate: £1 - 1.5 million). This exceptional suite was conceived by Rateau for the residence of distinguished surgeon Marcel Thalheimer (1893-1972) and his wife Marguerite Stern (1898-1984), and comes by descent to the present owners. In 1931, the Thalheimers commissioned a new residence from the architects Léon Fagnen and Réné Bétourn, set in the heart of the 16th arrondissement in Paris. The interior furnishings and decoration, conceived in their entirety by Rateau, were what truly set this home apart. A curving stone staircase led to the first floor, where the present dining table and ten chairs occupied the understated yet sumptuous dining room. The table top was constructed from a single, solid, and beautifully-figured plank of Japanese ash—a massive size for this tree species—and rested on two austere pillars of Giallo d’Istria marble. The armchairs, though an earlier design for Rateau, effortlessly adapted to their new modernist habitat, and echoed the arched recesses in the walls. The hôtel particulier Thalheimer was a luxury residence for an elite clientele, yet a thoroughly forward-looking one, designed for the modern era. The Art Deco section of the sale is further highlighted by Émile-Jacques Ruhlman’s ceiling light, model no. 3543NR, which marks the first time this rare model will come to auction (estimate: £120,000 - 150,000).
In addition, Modern Masters brings together a celebration of mid-century French design, including a ‘Cité’ armchair, from Jean Prouvé’s private collection (estimate: £180,000 - 280,000). The ‘Cité’ armchair is one of Prouvé’s early masterpieces designed for a competition to furnish the halls of residence at the Cité Universitaire in Nancy, France. Prouvé himself lived with and used the present armchair in his own home. Notable characteristics include the coated steel rockers and leather arm support straps, as Prouvé was able to meld both design and functionality whilst creating a dynamic, flowing form. The armchair comes to the market for the first time from the Collection of Laurence and Patrick Seguin, and has been exhibited at the Gagosian Gallery and subsequently in ‘A Passion for Jean Prouvé: From Furniture to Architecture: The Laurence and Patrick Seguin Collections’ at the Pinacoteca Giovanni e Maria Agnelli museum in 2013. A further highlight by Prouvé is a ‘6 x 9’ demountable house, which will be taking over the galleries at Phillips Berkeley Square in the lead up to the sale (estimate: £700,000 - 900,000).
The sale brings together a compelling selection of six works by Gio Ponti from the Milan pffices of confectioner Dulciora. The collection is led by a Unique ‘Parete organizzata’ (estimate: £40,000 - 60,000); a Unique executive desk (estimate: £35,000 - 45,000); and a Unique folding table (estimate: £30,000 - 40,000). These exceptional works exemplify Gio Ponti’s search for innovation within an office setting and the designer’s unique modular system to organise that environment.
Carlo Mollino’s Pair of chairs, designed for the conference room of the Lattes Publishing House in Turin, are a perfect testimony to Mollino’s modus operandi which can be defined as pure engineering (estimate: £160,000 - 220,000). The necessary heat to bend the pre-cut wood was transferred using sponges soaked in boiling water and a flat iron. Mollino creates an elegant aesthetic, opting for a small seat back, suspended between its lateral supports, and by breaking down the heaviness of the seat with a gentle, curved line. Mario Lattes, the director of Lattes Publishing House, established a strong friendship with Mollino.
Celebrated contemporary designers are brought to the fore, with works by Ron Arad, Joris Laarman, Marc Newson and Young Sook Park. Joris Laarman’s Important ‘Bridge’ table was constructed in 2010 and exemplifies how the designer combines technology and craft (estimate: £200,000 - 300,000). The Bridge table is an excellent example of this fusion, made in aluminium and tungsten carbide created by algorithms, robots and craftsmen. The reference is unmistakably bone structures which were Laarman’s inspiration for a whole series of furniture. Laarman’s fascination with technology doesn’t simply lead to a celebration of the new and possible, but aims at finding forms and aesthetics with a fundamental combination of coding and crafting.
Another focal point of the sale is Young Sook Park’s ‘Moon Jar’, no. 16 from 2007, marking the first time a Moon Jar by the artist will be offered at auction in the West (estimate: £120,000 - 180,000). Made out of porcelain with white glaze, this extraordinary work is a pure representation of a singular and deeply symbolic form. Moon Jars were originally made during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) and have a complex place in Korea’s long ceramic history. They are curvaceous, plain white porcelain jars resembling a full moon and were made customarily to contain flowers or wine, but they are also ritual, votive vessels. The British Museum has recently acquired a Moon Jar by Adam Buick whilst the Victoria and Albert Museum displays a fine example, made in 2008, by Young Sook Park.
The Design sale on 27 April offers 32 works from the collection of Venezuelan patron Fina Gomez, comprising ten internationally recognised ceramicists including: Bernard Leach, Alev Ebüzziya Siesbye, Hans Coper, Lucie Rie, Edouard Chapallaz, Francine Del Pierre, Fance Franck, Gutte Eriksen, Elisabeth Joulia, and Pierre Bayle (estimates range from £2,000 - £35,000). Thirty of the selected works being offered from the collection were part of the 1991 contemporary ceramics exhibition that was held at the Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, titled ‘Collection Fina Gomez, 30 ans de céramique contemporaine’. All the pieces from the collection are unique and superlative examples of each of the ceramicist’s work. Most of the works were either acquired from the ceramicists directly by Fina Gomez, with whom she had friendships, established Parisian galleries, or important exhibitions. A majority of these works have been part of the Gomez collection since their inception. The works that were included in the Musée des Arts décoratifs exhibition are also illustrated in an accompanying museum exhibition catalogue with text by the established writer of French Decorative Arts, Yvonne Brunhammer. In hindsight, the choices made by Fina Gomez are quite evident but at the time she was acquiring seminal works by pioneering ceramicists, so one can indeed consider her to be a talented collector.
Modern Masters
Auction: 26 April 2017, 6pm GMT
Auction viewing: 21 - 27 April | Monday to Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 12pm-6pm
Location: 30 Berkeley Square, London
Link to more information: https://www.phillips.com/auctions/auction/UK050217
Design
Auction: 27 April 2017, 2pm GMT
Auction viewing: 21 - 27 April | Monday to Saturday 10am-6pm, Sunday 12pm-6pm
Location: 30 Berkeley Square, London
Link to more information: https://www.phillips.com/auctions/auction/UK050117
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*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium; prices achieved include the hammer price plus buyer’s premium.
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