20Th Century Decorative Art & Design Including Iconic RenÉ Gruau Illustrations At Christie’s In...
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For Immediate Release 20 September 2011 Contact: Alizé Morand +44 207 389 2537 [email protected] 20 th CENTURY DECORATIVE A RT & DESIGN INCLUDING ICONIC R ENÉ GRUAU ILLUSTRATIONS AT CHRISTIE’S IN OCTOBER 20th Century Decorative Art & Design Tuesday, 25 October 2011 at 2.00pm London – Christie’s announce a fabulous Autumn sale of 20 th Century Decorative Art & Design , including original drawings by the master of 1950’s couture illustration, René Gruau. Spanning a variety of design movements across the 20 th century, the sale also comprises an important, recently rediscovered watercolour by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (estimate £50,000-70,000), along with a vast array of contemporary design and a carefully edited selection of Art Nouveau, Modern and Postmodern works. The overall auction features over 130 lots, with estimates ranging from £1,000 to £300,000 and is expected to realise in excess of £2 million. RENÉ GRUAU & FLEUR COWLES – The internationally recognisable work of haute couture illustrator René Gruau (1909-2004) fashioned the style of the forties and fifties, making him an artist favoured by the world’s most renowned fashion houses, including Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Balmain and Lanvin. Christie’s is offering a group of twenty of his most elegant and iconic illustrations, commissioned by the influential fashion editor Fleur Cowles (1908-2009), who married Gardner Cowles of the Cowles Publishing Empire, and subsequently redesigned ‘Look’ magazine and founded the innovative ‘Flair’ magazine. Although short-lived, ‘Flair’ was celebrated for its lavish production, cut-out pages and talented contributors, from René Gruau and Jean Cocteau to Lucian Freud, Tennessee Williams and Salvador Dalí.
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For Immediate Release20 September 2011
Contact: Alizé Morand +44 207 389 2537 [email protected]
20th
CENTURY DECORATIVE A RT & DESIGN INCLUDINGICONIC R ENÉ GRUAU ILLUSTRATIONS
AT CHRISTIE’S IN OCTOBER
20th Century Decorative Art & DesignTuesday, 25 October 2011 at 2.00pm
London – Christie’s announce a fabulous Autumn sale of 20th Century Decorative Art & Design , including original
drawings by the master of 1950’s couture illustration, René Gruau. Spanning a variety of design movementsacross the 20th century, the sale also comprises an important, recently rediscovered watercolour by Margaret
Macdonald Mackintosh (estimate £50,000-70,000), along with a vast array of contemporary design and a
carefully edited selection of Art Nouveau, Modern and Postmodern works. The overall auction features over
130 lots, with estimates ranging from £1,000 to £300,000 and is expected to realise in excess of £2 million.
RENÉ GRUAU & FLEUR COWLES – The internationally recognisable work of haute couture illustrator
René Gruau (1909-2004) fashioned the style of the forties and fifties, making him an artist favoured by the
world’s most renowned fashion houses, including Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Balmain and Lanvin. Christie’s is
offering a group of twenty of his most elegant and iconic illustrations, commissioned by the influential fashion
editor Fleur Cowles (1908-2009), who married Gardner Cowles of the Cowles Publishing Empire, and
subsequently redesigned ‘Look’ magazine and founded the innovative ‘Flair’ magazine. Although short-lived,
‘Flair’ was celebrated for its lavish production, cut-out pages and talented contributors, from René Gruau and
Jean Cocteau to Lucian Freud, Tennessee Williams and Salvador Dalí.
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The work of René Gruau is collected and displayed by the most prestigious art museums in the world, including
the Louvre, Paris. With estimates ranging from £1,500 to £10,000, the works are expected to attract
international fashion-lovers and collectors, and include some oil paintings. Highlights include above from left to
right: The Red Coat , circa 1950 (estimate £3,000-5,000), The Blue Bows , circa 1950 (estimate £3,000-5,000), Redhead ,
circa 1950 (estimate £1,500-2,000) and illustrated first page: Castillo Lanvin, Dior, Balenciaga, circa 1950
(estimate £3,000-5,000).
THE SILVER APPLES OF THE MOON – The Silver
Apples of The Moon, 1912 (estimate £50,000-70,000 , illustrated
left ) is a recently rediscovered watercolour by Margaret
Macdonald Mackintosh (1865 -1933), the wife of Charles
Rennie Mackintosh, the Scottish architect, designer andpainter. It is known to have been exhibited in 1912 at the
Annual Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Societies of
Watercolours and then in 1913 at the 52nd Exhibition Royal
Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, but since then there are
no known records of it. Christie’s are honoured to present
this landmark discovery to the market.
Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, whose design work
became one of the defining features of the ‘Glasgow Style’,exhibited at the 1900 Vienna Secession, where she
undoubtedly influenced the Secessionists Gustav Klimt and
Josef Hoffmann. As with so many Symbolist works, The Silver Apples of the Moon is inspired by poetry, taking its
title from W. B. Yeats’ poem The Song of Wandering Aengus , with a twilight scene depicting the poem’s character,
a“Glimmering girl, With apple blossom in her hai r, The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun.”
CONTEMPORARY DESIGN – The sale features a strong array of conceptual chairs by contemporary
designers ( illustrated next page left to right ). Among the many highlights is the London Papardelle chair (estimate
£100,000-150,000) designed in 1992 by Ron Arad (B. 1951), the celebrated architect and designer, whose latest
show at The Roundhouse this summer attracted huge critical acclaim. The distinctive and imaginative design ismade of woven bronze draped with a back scrolling in a wonderfully elegant arabesque through the seat,
finished with an extendable floor carpet. Also by Ron Arad is the Oh Void chair, 2006 (estimate £125,000-
175,000), a translucent design with two central voids, which is one out of six editions. The Miss Blanche armchair,
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1988 (estimate £120,000-150,000) by Shiro Kuramata (1934-1991), one of the most important Japanese
designers, pays homage to Blanche Dubois, the title figure in the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee
Williams, incorporating red roses suspended in the air in a transparent acrylic structure. The front cover lot of
the catalogue is Alu-Felt Chair , 1993 by designer Marc Newson (B. 1963), an expensive and influential work
produced in an edition of six examples, estimated at £200,000 to £300,000.
POSTMODERNISM – The group of postmodern works showcases a selection by the Milan-based Memphis
Collective, founded in Milan in 1981 by Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007). The group reassessed the Modernist
principles of design which had dominated post-war Europe and America. Postmodernism is celebrated in the
first major retrospective exhibition at the V&A: Post-Modernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990, opening on 24
September 2011. The Memphis Collective included Martine Bedin, Aldo Cibic, Michele De Lucchi, Matteo
Thun and Marco Zanini, and later George Sowden and Nathalie du Pasquier. Highlights of the sale include the
Beverly sideboard, designed in 1981 (estimate £6,000-8,000, illustrated below left ) which challenges traditions of
functional furniture; and the silver Murmansk Centrepiece , 1982 (estimate: £7,000-9,000, illustrated below middle left ),
both designed by Ettore Sottsass.
ART NOUVEAU – Art Nouveau objets d’art are led by a set of four enchanting gold candelabra by Maurice
Bouval (1863-1916) the Obsession & Rêve Suite , circa 1898 (estimate £25,000-35,000, illustrated top right ) in chased
gilt bronze, on marble plinths. The Louis Majorelle (1859-1926) Orchidées Bureau and Fauteuil , circa 1905 (estimate
£120,000-180,000, illustrated top middle right ) epitomises Art Nouveau style, in carved amaranth decorated with
ormolu mounts.
# # #Images available on request
The complete e-catalogue for this sale will be available online at www.christies.com in September 2011.
Public viewings for this sale at Christie’s London, 8 King Street, St. James’, London, SW1Y 6QT From Friday 21 to Monday 24 October 2011
