A rare ensemble of four profile portraits, painted in black gouache with highlights, on blue-green tinted paper, presented under glass. Two men and two women are depicted, their coiffures and costumes characteristic of the fashion of the late eighteenth century and the Directoire period. More precious than simple cut silhouettes, these painted effigies render with finesse the details of the faces, hair and fabrics. Each portrait is presented within a brown fillet and united in a single mount. The ensemble is preserved in a giltwood frame adorned with carved friezes and palmettes. Good overall condition. Wear and patina of time.
Oil on panel depicting the bust-length portrait of an elegant lady, wearing a blue low-cut gown and adorned with a necklace. Her powdered coiffure, embellished with green ribbons, illustrates the refined fashion of the second half of the 18th century. The painting, executed on a dark ground, together with the treatment of the flesh tones, is evocative of a Germanic work. This treatment enhances the brilliance of the jewellery and the delicacy of the face. Presented in an antique giltwood frame with beading and moulded decoration, the work retains all its cabinet charm. Age craquelure, retouches. Good overall condition.
“L’Apiculteur et les Indiens” — a print by Gérard Garouste, Hors Commerce, signed and numbered 8/10.
The Minotaur emerges from a Greek-inspired setting, its meander and foliate scrolls drawn in black line, almost architectural in feel.
The face escapes this rigour: hand-painted in browns and pinks that soften the figure.
In Garouste’s work, “the Indian” is never a mere anecdotal detail. Ever since his play “Le Classique et l’Indien” (1977), the figure has embodied the painter’s double: opposite the Classical — reason, order — the Indian carries the wild, the mad, the uncontrollable. A theme he would explore for more than thirty years, culminating in his “Indiennes” series.
The full title of this print echoes that of a book Michel Onfray devoted to his painting in 2009.
Presented in a museum-quality frame, with anti-reflective and anti-UV glass.
Gilt bronze candlestick signed Casenove, foundry mark Fondica, dated 94 (1994).
In perfect condition.
A lively and poetic watercolour entitled La Place des Vosges, executed by the artist Thérèse Hummel (1896-1967).
In this balanced composition, the artist captures the joyful atmosphere of the famous Parisian square. One finds there the emblematic 17th-century architecture with its pink brickwork and verdant slate roofs, bordering the central garden structured around its monumental fountain and lime tree walks.
In the foreground, children play with a ball, stroll and amuse themselves near the basin, watched over by elegant figures seated on the square’s benches. Thérèse Hummel employs a fresh and rhythmic palette, dominated by the deep green of the vegetation and the ochre pink of the façades and paths, enhanced by small white dots suggesting gravel or light. The spontaneity of the ink line combines perfectly with the delicacy of the watercolour washes.
An intimate figure of the Parisian artistic circles of the first half of the 20th century, Thérèse Hummel belongs to that generation of independent female artists who evolved at the heart of modernity.
Close to the great names of the Montparnasse and Montmartre avant-garde, she shared privileged bonds of friendship with Jeanne Hébuterne, Amedeo Modigliani and Pablo Picasso. Immersed in this exceptional creative effervescence, her work is characterised by a remarkable plastic freedom, combining the poetry of everyday life, simplification of forms and expressiveness of colour.
Her works, sought-after and rare on the market, constitute a precious testimony to the creative spirit of the École de Paris.
The work benefits from a high-end presentation with a bespoke museum-quality conservation framing:
Museum-quality glass: anti-reflective and UV-filtering.
Art framing: executed by a leading Parisian atelier.
Signed lower left.
Colour print/lithograph on wove paper after the iconic work by Pierre Bonnard depicting an intimate winter landscape.
The composition opens onto a snow-covered path bordered by walls and trees with branches heavy with snow, at the centre of which a child advances, wrapped in a coat.
All the modernity of the Post-Impressionist movement is to be found here: tight framing, stylisation of forms, outlined touches of colour and a muted palette awakened by the vivid note of a chimney in the background and the child’s legs. A composition characteristic of Bonnard’s view of wintry Parisian street scenes.
The artist’s signature is printed in the plate at the lower right.
Numbered in pencil 192/220 at the lower left.
Posthumous reproduction, art edition type, from the 1950s-1970s.
The work benefits from a bespoke museum framing under glass: anti-reflective and UV-filtering glass.
Large contemporary portrait by the Thai artist Silawit Poolsawat, renowned for his powerful and sensitive works. Asian Beauty captures the delicacy and depth of an Asian female face, in a composition that blends realism, subtle transparencies and dreamlike atmospheres. Silawit Poolsawat’s paintings are inspired by women and children he has encountered during his travels, whose expressions have left a profound impression on him. Signed lower right. Framing: mounted on an aluminium stretcher, ready to hang.
Charming and luminous watercolour entitled Les amoureux, place de la Comédie, executed by the artist Thérèse Hummel (1896-1967).
The artist deploys a synthetic graphic style of great modernity, playing elegantly with a contrasted and masterfully controlled chromatic palette: the verdant green of the foliage and architectural elements answers the vibrant red-orange of the silhouettes and stylised street lamps.
In the foreground, a group of pigeons pecks at the square, lending a beautifully lively and poetic dynamic to the scene. In the background, the pair of lovers strolls near the fountain and the street lamps, before the imposing Parisian façades. The precision of the line combined with the lightness of the washes bears witness to the artist's remarkable plastic mastery.
An intimate figure of the Parisian artistic circles of the first half of the 20th century, Thérèse Hummel belongs to that generation of independent women artists who evolved at the heart of modernity.
Close to the leading names of the Montparnasse and Montmartre avant-garde, she shared privileged bonds of friendship with Jeanne Hébuterne, Amedeo Modigliani and Pablo Picasso. Immersed in this exceptional creative effervescence, her œuvre is characterised by a remarkable plastic freedom, combining the poetry of the everyday, simplification of forms and expressiveness of colour.
Museum-quality framing custom-made by a leading Parisian atelier: anti-reflective, UV-filtering glass.
A luminous oil on heavy card (historic Canson & Montgolfier support) depicting an intimate studio scene: a table laid for tea with its samovar, ceramic cups and a box of matches.
The work bears witness to the superb technical mastery of Henri de Saint-Delis, an emblematic figure of the École de Rouen and of Honfleur. The artist deploys a modern touch, generous in impasto, inherited both from Norman Impressionism and from the chromatic freedom of Fauvism. The white cloth, sculpted by light, shimmers with bluish and mauve reflections characteristic of his finest manner. The impasted, vibrant brushwork and the chromatic range of ochres, blues and powdery pinks are typical of the artist’s style, having trained in Le Havre alongside Othon Friesz, Raoul Dufy and Georges Braque, before settling permanently in Honfleur where he would paint the greater part of his œuvre.
Signed lower.
Work authenticated by the Cabinet Marc Ottavi, Paris (approved C.V.V. expert, specialising in nineteenth- and twentieth-century paintings).
Support: The reverse bears its original label from the manufacturer Canson & Montgolfier (No. 347, moiré grain), a precious mark of the period.
Framing: Presented in a period-style moulded and gilded wooden frame, enhanced by an elegant burgundy velvet Marie-Louise which perfectly underscores the warm tones of the background.
Important original colour lithograph conceived in the form of a narrative triptych, a major subject in the artist’s œuvre.
The composition is organised around a pared-down central panel dominated by a slender, hieratic figure (recalling the world of Don Quixote or the Preacher), flanked by two expressionist scenes rendered in powerful tones of ochres, dark earths and deep blacks.
The work bears witness to Garouste’s fascination with sacred texts and the Hebrew language, incorporating two handwritten philosophical passages drawn from the biblical Book of Ecclesiastes (signed with its Hebrew name, Gohélet / Qohélet):
On the left (Gohélet I, 17): “And I have seen life, one day evil to me, is the work that has been done under the sun, for all is vanity and pasture of the wind.”
On the right: “For who has remembrance of the wise man with the fool for ever, since in the days to come all is already forgotten. And how the wise man dies with the fool.”
Institutional reference: A similar impression from this same edition is held in the national collections of the Centre Pompidou / Musée National d’Art Moderne (inventory no. AM 2022-64).
Original colour lithograph on heavy wove paper.
Numbered 35 / 50 in pencil (highly confidential edition of only 50 impressions).
Signed in pencil with the artist’s official monogram “MG” lower right.
Excellent state of preservation, with remarkable freshness of the pigments.
Museum framing: Exceptional bespoke presentation carried out by a leading Parisian workshop.
Float mount in a box frame: the work is fixed in a reversible manner, revealing the entirety of the deckled edges of the paper. Cherrywood box-profile moulding, neutral conservation backing and museum-quality glass (anti-reflective and UV-protective).
A central figure of Surrealism, André Masson was one of the inventors of automatic painting — a freedom of gesture that would directly influence Pollock and American Abstract Expressionism. His graphic œuvre, poised between myth, metamorphosis and vital energy, is today held in the world’s foremost collections.
“Rencontre” is a striking illustration of this: against a grainy violet-grey ground, fluid white lines conjure animal silhouettes, fragmented faces and archaic symbols in a swirling dance. Automatism in its purest state.
Original colour print, signed in pencil, numbered 4/50. Laid paper with deckle edges.
Image: 29.5 × 20.5 cm — Sheet: 47.8 × 35 cm.
Framed under glass by a leading Parisian atelier.
Walnut frame: 52 × 39 × 3 cm
A very fine beach scene by Yves Wacheux, a 20th-century painter, depicting a group of figures on the sand facing the sea, in a soft and slightly veiled atmosphere. The artist captures a simple, silent moment of life, in which adults and children share the space between the sea and the dunes. The composition is built up through broad areas of colour, dominated by blues, beiges and whites, creating a diffuse, almost misty light that evokes an off-season beach or a late afternoon. The figures are rendered with softened contours, lending the scene great poetry and an impression of absolute calm. The particularly subtle handling of colour and light conveys the artist’s sensibility. Work signed lower right. Presented in a wooden frame with geometric decoration.