CHRISTIESmagazine

C O L L E C T I O N

Yves Saint Laurent et

Pierre Berg

C O L L E C T I O N

Yves Saint Laurent et

Pierre Berg

THE LEGENDARY COLLECTION OF YVES SAINT LAURENT ET PIERRE BERG TO BE SOLD IN FIVE SALES AT LE GRAND PALAIS, PARIS ON 23, 24 & 25 FEBRUARY 2009

4a legendary collectionFranois de Ricqls

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impressionist & modern paintings, drawings & sculpture

Anika Guntrum

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a portrait of yves saint laurent and pierre bergMadison Cox

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decorative arts of the 20th centuryPhilippe Garner

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jean-michel frankPierre-Emmanuel Martin-Vivier

84

claude and franois-xavier lalanneDaniel Marchesseau

90

yves saint laurent, hunter of spellsLaurence Benam

94

old master paintings and old master drawingsElvire de Maintenant, Ketty Gottardo and Benjamin Peronnet

116

19th century paintingsSebastian Goetz

118

thodore gricaultBruno Chenique

contents

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pierre berg, art patron and collectorJos Alvarez

134

silver and miniaturesAnthony Phillips

158

european furniture and works of artSimon de Monicault, Herv de La Verrie and Stefan Kist

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marie-laure de noailles, inspiration and muse of the collection

Meredith Etherington-Smith

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european sculptures and works of art from the renaissance

Donald Johnston

194

asian artRosemary Scott

202

antiquitiesMax Bernheimer

EDITOR IN CHIEF Meredith Etherington-Smith EDITORS Edward Behrens, Mandy OFlynn, Susannah Worth ASSISTANT EDITOR Charlotte FranklinSENIOR EDITOR Miles Chapman CREATIVE DIRECTOR Martin Schott ART DIRECTOR Jessica Landon DESIGN Alfonso Iacurci

To order catalogues: London +44 (0)20 7389 2820, New York +1 212 636 2500 +1 800 395 6300, Paris +33 (0)1 40 76 83 61, +33 (0)1 40 76 83 51. Email: subscribe-us@christies.com or 20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020, Tel: +1 212 636 2500, +1 800 395 6300, Fax: +1 212 636 4940

Printed in England by Christies International Media Division Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo-copying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of Christies.www.christies.com

cover image: Portrait of Yves Saint Laurent, photograph by Duane Michals, courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

5There is no doubt that Christies sale of the YvesSaint Laurent and Pierre Berg collection will be amilestone in the history of great auctions. It is alsothe reflection of a whole era and its lifestyle. Alifestyle shaped by the creative intuition and talentof a few personalities such as Yves Saint Laurentand Pierre Berg.

When Christian Dior died in 1957, one could readin the newspapers the name of the greatcouturiers successor: Yves Saint Laurent, 21.From that day, and for almost half a century,encouraged and faithfully supported by PierreBerg, the brilliant designers three initials, YSL,became the symbol of French elegance throughoutthe world. Supremely chic, sober andrevolutionary, giving women a new freedom, hisstyle has not yet been surpassed. In 1983, at theheight of his career, the designer became part ofthe art world when Diana Vreeland, the queen offashion, organised a retrospective of his work atthe Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Pierre Berg, who created the fashion house withYves Saint Laurent and accompanied himthroughout all his life, is much more than just thewell known tycoon. A refined literary figure (hewas a friend of Jean Giono and Jean Cocteau), arenowned expert in music, he also discovered thetalent of Bernard Buffet at the very start of hiscareer. He was, and still is, one of the greatpatrons of our time; an active donor to major

humanitarian causes. The Centre Pompidou, theLouvre, the National Gallery in London and manyother important institutions owe M. Berg a greatdeal, as do Covent Garden and the Paris Opera, ofwhich he is President.

Highly sought-after and acquainted with all thosewho set the tone of the social, political andcultural life of Paris, Yves Saint Laurent and PierreBerg guarded their incredible collection of worksof art, as if it were their secret garden. Thedazzling nature of their collection is shaped by asingle principle: each piece was purchased for thesimple satisfaction of the two collectors looking forexceptional pieces.

Indifferent to trends, their main reference was thelarge mansion in Paris of Vicomte and Vicomtessede Noailles, where they were frequent guests intheir youth.

This rich, aristocratic and eccentric couple hadinherited masterpieces and major pieces of furniturefrom their ancestors, which they combined withworks bought from their artist friends, Picasso,Giacometti, Balthus, Tanguy, Dal and many others.In a stunning room covered in vellum by Jean-Michel Frank, antique pieces and modern art wereaudaciously and gracefully mixed. Yves Saint Laurentand Pierre Berg would never forget this lesson: thesearch for perfection, an insatiable curiosity andfreedom of taste. It suited them perfectly.

a legendary collection

By Franois de Ricqls

6In 1972, when they moved into the flat on rue deBabylone, formerly occupied by Marie Cuttoli,herself a great patron of the arts, they followed thesame path with their own strong personalities.They recreated the atmosphere which hadfascinated them and which was described as asublime hotchpotch of works of art by PhilippeJullian, who understood everything about taste.The creative bond that united Yves Saint Laurentand Pierre Berg enabled them to assemble acollection where each period and artist isrepresented at the highest level. To paraphraseProust, whom Saint Laurent revered, they built acathedral which they defended valiantly.

In the 1960s they were among the first collectors,along with Andy Warhol and Ileana Sonnabend, toacquire furniture and objects from the Art Decoperiod which was only just being rediscovered.Jacques Lejeune, Jacques Denol, StphaneDeschamps, Flix Marcilhac, Bob and CheskaVallois, Alain Blondel, Maria de Beyrie as well asAnne-Sophie Duval and her mother Yvette Barranwere some of the dealers they frequented. At thistime, they were able to buy pieces from theJacques Doucet collection and works by Jean-Michel Frank, who had been completely forgotten.They ended up building up one of the worldsmost important collections of decorative arts fromthe twenties and thirties.

At the same time they commissioned Franois-Xavier and Claude Lalanne to create some of theirfirst big sculptures. Their international reputationhas not stopped growing ever since.

Later on, the immense success of the House ofSaint Laurent allowed them to acquiremasterpieces for their collection: the portrait of achild by Goya, four major works by Lger, a cubistPicasso from the best period, a monumentalBurne-Jones, a rare portrait by Ingres, one of themost beautiful works by Gricault, five Mondrianand three Matisse. Of all those many wonderfulpieces, the extraordinary wooden sculpture byBrancusi, Madame L.R., is for me one of the moststriking pieces. The artist swapped it for a work byFernand Lger the year the two men met.

The collection of Art Deco furniture andmasterpieces, which is worthy of the best-knownmuseums, sits alongside objects from everycivilisation and all five continents: African pieces,antiquities and Renaissance sculptures as well asantique furniture.

The subtle dcor created by Yves Saint Laurent andPierre Berg, in the rue de Babylone became themost extraordinary living and artistic space,immediately taking any visitors breath away. Theoak panels in the main drawing room are hungfrom floor to ceiling with paintings, watching overan enchanted world of bronzes, vases and variousworks of art. In the library, opposite the Burne-Jones, a Mondrian provides a contrast with its boldgeometry. Fifteen floral bronze mirrors and wallsconces by Claude Lalanne adorn the walls of themusic room. A tiny room with glass cabinetshouses a collection of the rarest cameos fromAntiquity and the Renaissance. Everywhere, light isfiltered through the dense vegetation of the gardenfrom which emerges a fearless Roman marbleMinotaur, embodying the spirit of this place.

7In 1992, Pierre Berg moved to his own apartmentin rue Bonaparte. At first glance, the beautiful flatlooks lavishly traditional, but a second look enablesyou to realise that the same eclectic taste reignsthere. Le dsespoir de Pierrot, a poignantmasterpiece by Ensor, paintings by Mondrian,Degas, de Hooch, Manet and Gricault are mixedwith a Weisweiler table and spectacular bronzesfrom the Summer Palace in Beijing.

Most outstanding of all, is the group of Germanceremonial silverware, enamels from Limogesand Venice, bronzes, rock crystal and ivoryobjects. A real Wunderkammer. It is one of themost fabulous treasure troves one could everimagine being in private hands.

Pierre Berg always highlights the fact that, apartfrom the Art Deco collection, he owes a lot todealers like Alain Tarica for the paintings, and forthe works of art, to Nicolas and Alexis Kugel,worthy heirs to their father Jacques Kugel, thelegendary antiques dealer.

It is very unlikely, almost impossible, that such acollection could be assembled today. None of thepieces was inherited. Yves Saint Laurent andPierre Berg built it up over the course of 50years. It is the result of their quest, their eye, theirknowledge, their strong will and, above all, theirpursuit of perfection.

We feel very privileged to offer this wonderfulcollection for auction. The word collection whichis so over-used today, should be written here witha capital C, providing its full historic meaning:each piece has its own intrinsic value as a work of

art, which gives the entire collection a universaland timeless quality.

In February 2009, the whole Collection will beexhibited in the prestigious setting of the GrandPalais in Paris.

Five catalogues, which will in turn becomecollectors items, will be produced.

It is important to know that the proceeds of thesale will benefit the Pierre Berg Yves SaintLaurent Foundation and will enable Berg tocreate a new medical foundation dedicatedprincipally to scientific research and the fightagainst AIDS.

The Collection will be sold over three days in thecity where it was assembled, offering every artlover the opportunity to acquire a piece bearingthe legendary provenance of the Yves SaintLaurent and Pierre Berg Collection.

F.R.

8impressionist & modern paintings,

drawings & sculpture

Over the course of nearly 50 years, Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergmaintained a passionate devotion to Modern Art and its precursors, creating one of the most important collections of 20th-century art everassembled. Moreover, the Modern pictures in the collection remain justone aspect of the vast intellectual adventure that so richly reflects thelives of these two men.

The works of art in the Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berg collectionreflect an equanimity that nourished them: from the emblematic Algerianblue and rose-coloured fabric in Matisses sumptuous Nature morte; to themasterpieces of Lgers mechanical period; on to the stupendous suite of Mondrian paintings; the common thread here is the importance ofcolour and line. Their taste was for powerful works, and they had a deepappreciation of what it took for an artist to create a truly great work of art.

It is crystal clear that the collection had been a joint enterprise, and neitherman could have continued alone. Working on the sale of this collection hasprovided a special opportunity of discovery, wonder and awe for myself andmany of us at Christies. The passion for works of art and the respect forthe artists who created them that was so keenly felt by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berg will now be passed on to future generations.

Anika GuntrumHead of Department, Impressionist & Modern Art, Paris

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Edouard Manet

The model in the present pastel bears a striking resemblance toMademoiselle Demarsy (ne Anne Marie Josephine Brochard), thestage actress who figures in five of Manets oil paintings executedaround the same time as this pastel in 1879. Her likeness appears insix of the 60 portraits Manet executed in pastel at the end of his life.

EDOUARD MANET (18321883)Jeune fille en chapeau dt, pastel on canvas, 22 13 34 in. (56 35 cm.)

Executed circa 1879. Estimate: 3500,000700,000

11

Edgar Degas

EDGAR DEGAS (18341917)Paysage dItalie vu par une lucarne, oil on paper laid down on canvas, 14 12 12 58 in. (36.7 32 cm.)

Painted circa 185760. Estimate: 3300,000400,000

One of the artists earliest full-fledged landscapes, Degass masteryof the oil medium is already apparent. At the far right we see theCapodimonte fortress, which Degas would have seen from hispaternal grandfathers villa in Naples, where he sojourned for threemonths in 1856.

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Edouard Vuillard

A caricaturist of the pantomime of daily life, here Vuillard depictshis sister, her face a ghostly white, floating into the rarified air ofimagination and escape from their authoritarian, dressmakermother, solidly seated at her side. This family drama is played outagainst a richly-patterned interior. This theatrical scene, however,was entirely constructed by this volatile Nabi, for whom reality wastoo banal to feed his art.

EDOUARD VUILLARD (18681940)Marie rveuse et sa mre, oil on canvas, 25 14 18 78 in. (64 48 cm.). Painted circa 189192

Estimate: 31,000,0001,500,000

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Mont Sainte-Victoire is the most prominent and revered feature ofthe landscape surrounding Aix; the present watercolour is the onlyone by Czanne which represents the mountain and the sweepinglandscape which surrounds it. As dense in matter as in the artistsuse of negative space, the strokes of watercolour shimmer as ifbathed in late afternoon light.

PAUL CZANNE (18391906) La montagne Sainte-Victoire vue des Lauves (recto); Etude darbres (verso), watercolour and pencil on joined paper,

12 14 28 14 in. (30.9 71.6 cm.). Executed circa 190206. Estimate: 32,000,0003,000,000

Paul Czanne

15

Edvard Munch

The landscape and shoreline at Aasgardstrand which would formthe setting for most of Munchs paintings in the great series of works known as the Frieze of Life was a mystical place heavilyinfused with an atmosphere of mystery, memory and melancholy.This shoreline, with its strange play of light on water, was transformedin Munchs mind into a place of existential mystery that proved animportant spur in the development of his art.

EDVARD MUNCH (18631944)Bord de mer, oil on canvas, 22 31 34 in. (56 80.9 cm.). Painted in 1898. Estimate: 31,200,0001,800,000

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Mary Callery, former owner of this work

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Pablo Picasso

High Cubism at its finest. In the present oil Picasso devours his own Cubistvisual language. A table and a guitar, standard Cubist iconography,here take on anthropomorphic forms that recall another great Cubistelement, the seated man in an armchair, who in turn would soon begiven new life in the artists neoclassical phase.

PABLO PICASSO (18811973)Instruments de musique sur un guridon, oil and sand on canvas, 50 78 35 in. (129.2 88.9 cm.)

Executed in 191415. Estimate: 325,000,00030,000,000

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PABLO PICASSO (18811973)Homme dans un fauteuil, India ink, wash, pencil and collage on paper, 16 34 11 38 in. (42.5 28.7 cm.)

Executed in Cret, Spring 1912. Estimate: v300,000500,000

opposite page: Picasso in his atelier, with Instruments de musique sur un guridon visible

In contrast to the paintings that show the complexity and often limitedlegibility of Picassos imagery during his recent hermetic phase,these drawings possess a profoundly simple and almost classicalbeauty. They reveal the fundamental architecture of Picassos cubistconceptions, without the distraction of excessive faceting, andallow a more directly communicative expression of the artistshumorous approach to his subjects.

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Georges Braque

The whole Renaissance tradition is repugnant to me. The hard-and-fast rulesof perspective which it succeeded in imposing on art were a ghastly mistakewhich it has taken four centuries to redress; Czanne and after him, Picassoand myself can take a lot of the credit for this. Scientific perspective is nothingbut eye-fooling illusionism; it is simply a trick a bad trick which makes itimpossible for artists to convey a full experience of space, since it forces theobjects in a picture to disappear away from the beholder instead of bringingthem within his reach, as painting should. Perspective is too mechanical to allow one to take full possession of things. It has its origins in a single viewpoint and never gets away from it...When we arrived at this conclusion,everything changed you have no idea how much. (G. Braque, quoted in J. Richardson, Braque, London, 1961, p.10)

GEORGES BRAQUE (18821963)Compotier, quotidien du midi, oil and sand on canvas, 16 38 12 78 in. (41.7 32.6 cm.)

Executed in 191213. Estimate: 31,800,0002,500,000

21

Juan Gris

JUAN GRIS (18871927)Le violon, oil on canvas, 23 28 14 in. (58.4 71.7 cm.). Painted in August 1913. Estimate: 34,000,0006,000,000

Manifest here are Griss characteristic tilted and angled semi-transparentplanes, stacked one on top of another like panes of tinted glass. Thecomposition adheres to the rigorous discipline of an overridingarchitectural plan, establishing the artist alongside Picasso andBraque as a leading innovator of the Cubist movement.

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Henri Matisse

This earliest of Matisses cut-outs was very likely a study for the front curtain of Rouge etNoir, a ballet composed by Lonide Massine for which Matisse designed the set and thecostumes. Here the forms anticipate some of the artists greatest achievements of the1940s, including the Barnes murals and the Jazz portfolio.

Les coucous dates from the remarkable sequence of Matisses sumptuous still-lives and interior scenes of 19111912. Here the bouquet of flowers, the vase, the wall treatment,even the landscape hanging at the right have all become pattern themselves, renouncing aseparate identity to the greater common cause of organic decoration. Matisse used thesame blue and pink Algerian fabric in LAtelier rose in the Sergei Shchukin Collection(Pushkin Museum, Moscow).

HENRI MATISSE (18691954)Le danseur, gouache, traces of pencil and paper cut-out on paper, 29 12 24 12 in. (74.9 62.2 cm.)

Executed in 193738. Estimate: 34,000,0006,000,000

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HENRI MATISSE (18691954)Les coucous, tapis bleu et rose, oil on canvas, 31 78 25 34 in. (81 65.5 cm.). Painted in 1911

Estimate: v12,000,00018,000,000

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Between 1908 and 1913, Matisse made a number of voyages to Germany, wherehe benefited from widespread support. His growing fame was largely due toHans Purrmann, who not only placed works by the artist in important local collections, but organised exhibitions at Paul Cassirers gallery as early as 1908.The artistic exchanges between Matisse and the German Expressionist artistsis plainly evident in Nu au bord de la mer.

HENRI MATISSE (18691954)Nu au bord de la mer, oil on canvas, 24 18 19 34 in. (61.2 50 cm.). Painted in Cavalire,1909

Estimate: 34,000,0006,000,000

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La tasse de th, the definitive study for the right-hand figure in Le Grand Djeuner (The Museum of Modern Art, New York) sharesMondrians emphasis on solid black bands and rectangular expansesof white, vivified with flashes of bright colour. Lgers Grand Djeunerpictures are arguably the most successful fusion of a resolutelymodernist attitude toward urban industrial life and profoundrespect for the classical dignity of antiquity.

FERNAND LGER (18811955)La tasse de th, oil on canvas, 36 18 25 12 in. (91.7 64.8 cm.). Painted in 1921. Estimate: 310,000,00015,000,000

Fernand Lger

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FERNAND LGER (18811955)Le damier jaune, oil on canvas, 25 12 21 14 in. (65 54 cm.). Painted in November 1918. Estimate: v3,000,0005,000,000

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FERNAND LGER (18811955)Composition, dans lusine, oil on canvas, 39 38 31 78 in. (100 81 cm.). Painted in 1918. Estimate: 36,000,0008,000,000

30

Constantin Brancusi

Fernand Lger was the first owner of Madame L.R., which he acquireddirectly from the artist in exchange for one of his own paintings.Having attained the height of his smooth and polished forms withMlle Pogany in 1912, here Brancusi returns to rough-hewn forms inthis majestic example carved from a single block of wood.

CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI (18761957)Madame L.R. (Portrait of Madame L.R.), sculptured oak, 46 18 in. (117.1 cm.) high. Executed in 19141917

Estimate: 315,000,00020,000,000

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Piet Mondrian

Mondrian could not realise his goal of abstraction while remaining true to traditional western pictorial values; his break with this 19th-century aestheticis remarkable. In the 1918 composition, Mondrian takes his first steps towardtotal abstraction, where the line takes on huge importance, as one misplacedline can ruin the harmony of the whole. Mondrian reintroduces colour in the1920 work, and slowly renounces the grid form. In 1922, having arrived at thefull realisation of his neo-plastic compositions, Mondrian achieves the highestdegree of balance and economy of line, colour and form.

PIET MONDRIAN (18721944)Composition with Grid II, oil on canvas, 38 38 24 58 in. (97.4 62.5 cm.). Painted in 1918; cleaned

and rotated 180 by the artist in 1942. Estimate: 37,000,00010,000,000

opposite page: Composition I, in rue de Babylone

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Otto Preminger, former owner of this work

PIET MONDRIAN (18721944)Composition with Blue, Red, Yellow and Black, oil on canvas, 31 78 19 12 in. (79.6 49.8 cm.)

Painted in 1922; with original artists frame. Estimate: 37,000,00010,000,000

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PIET MONDRIAN (18721944)Composition I, oil on canvas, 29 58 25 58 in. (75.2 65 cm.). Painted in 1920 with original artists frame.

Estimate: 35,000,0007,000,000

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Marcel Duchamp

This is not an ordinary bottle of perfume: Rrose Slavy, the most well-known pseudonymof the artist, his alter-ego created in 1920, is here immortalised in one of Duchamps firstRectified Ready-Mades, La Belle Haleine Eau de Voilette. The amusing title was created byDuchamp with the help of Man Ray who took the photographs of Duchamp as RroseSlavy, one of which was used for the label.

Man Ray, Rrose Slavy, gelatin silver print, 1921. The J. Paul Getty Museum, LA

opposite page: MARCEL DUCHAMP (18871968)Belle Haleine Eau de Voilette, oval violet-coloured cardboard box, perfume bottle in brushed glass

6 12 4 38 in. (16.5 11.2 cm.). Executed in 1921. Estimate: 31,000,0001,500,000

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SALE: LE GRAND PALAIS, PARIS, MONDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2009, 7 PMENQUIRIES: THOMAS SEYDOUX, +33 (0)1 40 76 86 18, TSEYDOUX@CHRISTIES.COMANIKA GUNTRUM, + 33 (0)1 40 76 83 89, AGUNTRUM@CHRISTIES.COMMARINE BANCILHON, +33 (0)1 40 76 86 08, MBANCILHON@CHRISTIES.COM

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Thirty years ago, I first crossed a drab and drizzlyParisian cobbled courtyard and entered into theheady universe of the legendary rue de Babylone.There are no words to describe the effect it had onme, a young man of nineteen. That initialintroduction into the world conceived, composed,indeed colonised by Yves Saint Laurent and hislifelong partner Pierre Berg was astounding.

Over the course of years come and gone, beyondthe moments ranging from the romantically idyllicto the madly chaotic, the apartment at rue deBabylone has remained for me, as for so manyothers, and most importantly for its twoemotionally intertwined creators, a beacon that hassoared loftily above the commonplace. Thislegendary residence remains a constant reminderthat expressions of creative brilliance, profoundquality and artistic mastery are of fleeting rarity, buthave the power to touch, if not transform, us all.

This hallowed private place evolved over the yearsto become the ultimate intimate expression, if notthe personal representation, of Yves Saint Laurentand Pierre Bergs 50-year relationship. As in thecase with all intense and magnetic unions, theirswas one in states of perpetual flux due to thehighly charged nature of these two individualswho, as young men of 24 and 29 respectively, firstset out together on the now well-documented path

that radically altered the mandates of theirprofession, the world of fashion.

This is an intensely personal and idiosyncraticcollection; from a rare African Senufo birdsculpture which proudly peers over a turbulentflight of vividly coloured parrots, macaws andparakeets of an Ernest Boiceau carpet to thescattered golden straw boxes by Jean-Michel Frank,almost half-hidden amid Renaissance bronzesdepicting mythological figures. Heavy rock crystalBaroque crucifixes and candlesticks are set amid apantheon of titanic 20th-century artists. In thisatmosphere of criss-crossing references tocultures, myriad artistic periods and movements,not to mention allusions to historical, literary andsocial figures, it must be remembered that firstand foremost rue de Babylone was the home formany decades of the famous pair. It was here thatthey shared daily meals and Sundays lazily spent;here they celebrated birthdays and staged warmweather picnics. It was also the site of thebeautifully orchestrated bi-annual ftes that werecelebrated following haute couture collections.

This was the home where Hazel, Saint Laurentsbeloved Chihuahua clawed at cushions and theseries of French bulldogs all of them namedMoujik ruled. This is the place where hand-madebeeswax candles (procured especially from the

A Portrait of Yves Saint Laurent and

Pierre BergBy Madison Cox

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Pierre Berg and Yves Saint Laurent

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ecclesiastical shops that encircled the Place Saint-Sulpice) would occasionally drip from their ClaudeLalanne bronze-foliage sconces on to the lacqueredsheen of an Eileen Gray commode or a Jean Dunandcloisonn vase. At times Maria Callass magisterialvoice would resonate throughout the duplexapartment and I can still hear Nancy Sinatra singing,repeatedly, These boots are made for walking.

It was a heady universe, of colliding energies andat times conflicting passions but each one of thevisiting participants in whatever role casualguest, friend or intimate all knew from themoment they crossed the threshold into thatcinnabar lacquered entrance hall that this was aunique, never to be replicated, world. A worldassembled, moulded, arranged and continuouslymodified by Saint Laurent and Berg. It was not afixed stage set or an environment fabricated bydecorators. Nor was it a series of assemblagescollated by art consultants, curators and gallerylobbyists. It was simply an expression of thepassions and principles of its highly volatile andprofoundly intelligent creators.

While art historians and saleroom experts canasses its cultural richness and evaluate itsmonetary value, the collection remains for me aprime example of the unbroken bond that existedbetween the couple: the rooms they lived in andthe objects they collected to furbish those rooms,remained the one constant in their private lives.For in spite of the acknowledged public successthe name Yves Saint Laurent had in the course offashion history, this private world remained for themost part private. As a dialogue between two

individuals, the collection represented both theiryoung aspirations and early influences whileequally reflecting their passions and ambitions.

People speak often of the two as polar opposites, aying and yang of sorts; it is sufficient to say thecouple spoke the same language and theirreferences were commonly shared. Their respect forthe integrity of other artistic endeavours and qualityruled above all. Highly complex individuals, theyforged together for themselves their own world.

When that bond ceased to exist just a short eightmonths ago with the death of Yves Saint Laurentin June 2008, it became apparent to Pierre Bergthat the dialogue he once had was now at an end,and the difficult decision was made to disperse thecollection in its entirety. With the mission of theexisting Pierre Berg Yves Saint LaurentFoundation specifically outlined to conserve YvesSaint Laurents work and to organise relatedcultural exhibitions, the proceeds from this uniquesale will enable a second foundation to be created.It is the mark of a most remarkable man, thatPierre Berg has decided to part with the contentsof his personal apartment and that of Yves SaintLaurent and with the estimated proceeds create asecond foundation dedicated principally toscientific research and the fight against AIDS. AsPierre Berg once told me, the importance of thecollection for him was having had the uniqueopportunity to have acquired these objects andnow it was time, in Zen-like fashion, to relinquishthem. His beliefs and profound concern for suchworld issues far outweigh the importance of hiscontinuing stewardship of their collection.

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There is a great tinge of sadness and melancholywhen I think back to the excitement and frisson Iexperienced on that initial visit and for each andevery subsequent call to that mesmerizing andmagical environment which will be no more. Butthen again, with this legendary sale, eachpossession will first become a lot number and

then take on a new life. Yet each piece will foreverbe associated with those two remarkable men,both of whom I profoundly respected and deeplyloved; Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berg.

Madison CoxTangiers, Morocco

Photograph by Daniel Bernard

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decorative arts ofthe 20th century

The principal furnishings of the rue de Babylone apartment of Yves Saint Laurent constitute a seductive evocation of an especially glorious phase in French culture the period from around 1910 until the close of the 1930s during which Paris reignedsupreme as the world centre of artistic creativity.

Paris set the tone in the fine arts and in every branch of the applied arts in fashionand in theatre design, in cabinetmaking and in decoration, in illustration and in all thecrafts, from jewellery and metalwork to glass and ceramics. The city became synonymouswith brilliance in all the industries de luxe, a status emphatically celebrated in the 1925Exposition Internationale. Of course, Paris became a magnet for inspired and influentialartists from other countries, artists as diverse as Picasso and Brancusi, Man Ray andde Chirico, Miklos and Csaky, who further enriched the creative scene.

If Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berg were able, with such connoisseurship andfinesse, to assemble the pieces that could best capture the flavour of those years, it isbecause they were so sensitive to every facet of the social, literary and creative milieusthat made the era so special. Their splendid Art Deco furniture and objects a perfectfoil for their magnificent modern paintings and other works of art bring to life asparkling age of imagination, sophistication, elegance and flair.

Philippe GarnerInternational Director, 20th Century Decorative Art & Design

JEAN-MICHEL FRANK (18951941) A large folding screen, circa 1925, marqueterie de paille, black painted wood, each leaf 80 20 in. (203 51 cm.)

Estimate: 3100,000150,000

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Jacques DoucetA notable role model

In the late 1920s the truly remarkable art collectorand equally distinguished couturier JacquesDoucet who surely would have opted to beremembered for the former passion rather thanthe latter profession planned the furnishing of asuite of rooms on the first floor of the Studio ofhis Villa St James in Neuilly. These started with asquare vestibule reached by a grand moderniststaircase that swept up from the entrance hall.Double doors by Ren Lalique opened from thisvestibule into a long rectangular salon with two tallwindows down one side; a broad opening at the farend led into the cabinet dOrient. The grand salonwas a sumptuous room, designed for use with adesk, armchairs, side tables and a large sofa. But itwas conceived above all as a jewel box in which todisplay harmoniously and to savour the dazzlingmasterpieces of modern art that Doucet hadassembled. Between the windows hung a splendidstill life by Matisse; to the right of this on the endwall by the corner hung an exceptional study by deChirico. In the vestibule, at the top of the stairs,was Picassos historic Cubist masterpiece LesDemoiselles dAvignon. Furniture, objects, sculpturesand paintings were installed in groupings, inlayers of colour, texture and form that created aninter-connected succession of secular altars togreat artistic sensitivity and creativity. JacquesDoucet, known as Le Magicien, had fulfilled avision to create an exquisite, provocative andstimulating private aesthetic temple, a magicalsynthesis of media and of cultures.

The grand salon of Saint Laurents rue de Babyloneapartment pays homage to the inspiration ofJacques Doucet. Specific pieces the stool byPierre Legrain, the pair of banquettes by Miklos andthe haunting picture by de Chirico were inDoucets illustrious collection, and for that reasonoccupy a privileged place in the collection of YvesSaint Laurent and Pierre Berg. But just assignificant is the evidence in the disposition ofpictures and objects and in the subtleorchestration of colours and textures of a finelynuanced appreciation of the stimulating andseductive ways in which Doucet juxtaposed andpresented works of art in all media.

P.G.

Jacques Doucet, photographic portrait by Man Ray

The grand salon of Jacques Doucets Studio at the Villa St James, Neuilly, published in 1931 in LIllustration

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Gustave Miklos arrived in Paris in 1909 from hisnative Hungary after studying painting at the FineArt School in Budapest. Joining his compatriotJoseph Csaky, he settled in La Ruche and was verysoon exhibiting in the Salon dAutomne and theSalon des Indpendants, before joining the FrenchArmy in 1914 at the outbreak of World War I.Serving in the bataillon dOrient, he was posted to Salonica. There he discovered Byzantine art, arevelation that proved a major influence in his aesthetic development.

Back in Paris in 1919, Miklos became closelyinvolved with the artistic avant-garde whiledeveloping the range of his technical skills. Hespent time in the lacquer workshop of Brugier,before becoming interested in the art ofenamelling. In 1921 he was introduced to Jean

Dunand and worked occasionally for the famouslacquer artist and dinandier, alongside whom heexplored the skills of metalwork. In the followingyears he dedicated himself principally to sculptureand developed a very pure style in which hisformalised concepts inspired a connection withthe structural essence of all things, preservingan element of mystery that draws us insistentlyback, provoking close observation, and reflection.He engaged closely in the execution of his works,taking personal care of patient and preciousfinishing, sensitive to the ways in which surfacescould catch and play with light.

Jacques Doucet discovered his work at the Salondes Artistes Indpendants in 1920 andcommissioned Miklos over the next few years tocreate carpets and a series of enamelled objects, aswell as the unique pair of palm wood banquetteswith coral colour lacquered bronze handles andsabots. These were commissioned for the StudioSt James in Neuilly that Doucet installed betweenaround 1926 and 1929 and they were acquireddirectly by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berg atthe Htel Drouot, Paris, in 1972, from the historicauction of furniture and objects from Doucetsestate. Period photographs confirm the centralpositioning of the banquettes between the twowindows of the grand salon, flanking a large anddiscreetly sumptuous cabinet by Paul-LouisMergier, covered in green hide. On the wall abovewas the Matisse still life Poissons rouges et palette.Doucets desire to achieve a perfect harmonybetween the exquisite furniture and objects, thepaintings and the sculpture, is evidenced in hisdialogue with Mergier over the proportions of the

Gustave Miklos

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cabinet, and his eventual instruction to raise it on aplinth between the banquettes that perfectlycompleted the display. The coral coloured detailsplayed their part in a finely nuanced chromaticorchestration that included a remarkable rug anddecorative and architectural features such ascurtains and the sculpted ceiling. So considered wasevery aspect of the installation that surely, inaddition to their inherent qualities and their role inthe physical structuring of this area of the room, thecoral colour of the banquettes was also a deliberatecounterpoint to the red of the Matisse picture.

A letter dated 19 March 1929 from Rose Adler toEtienne Cournault two other artists involved withDoucets projects underscores how theintroduction of these banquettes contributed to thecollectors satisfaction: Champert has taken apartthe base of the cabinet. Doucet would appreciatethat you first speak with him prior to any decision.He seemed happy to have seen again his carpet,more specifically now with the new orangelacquered banquettes. Such concerns comparedirectly with the sensibilities of Yves Saint Laurentand Pierre Berg. Driven by comparable aestheticexigencies, they have reflected and refined throughthe years with a sure eye that could not tolerateany discordant note the intricate dialogues withinthe wide range of their collection.

Sonja GanneEuropean Head, 20th Century Decorative Art & Design, Paris

GUSTAVE MIKLOS (18881967) A pair of banquettes, circa 1928, leopard skin, palm wood, red lacquered bronze, signed, 18 12 in. (47 cm.) high, 25 58 in.(65 cm.) wide, 15 58 in. (40 cm.) deep. Estimate: 32,000,0003,000,000

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The story of Art Deco is a multi-faceted one,though the label is all-too-frequently applied as asimple generic umbrella for all the characteristicfashionable styles of the 20s and 30s. Parisianartists dominated the decorative arts of this period,yet even within the French school one can identifyquite distinct styles and phases. If Emile-JacquesRuhlmann, Se & Mare, Jean Dunand and RenLalique might be described as high profileambassadors for a mainstream style that wascelebrated in the 1925 Exposition Internationale,then Pierre Legrain might be referenced incontrast as the paradigm of the avant-garde creatorcatering to a small coterie of adventurous patronswith an appetite for the unconventional.

Legrains first important professional connectionwas with illustrator-designer Paul Iribe who, in1908, invited him to collaborate on his satiricalpublications. Legrain worked with Iribe on thecommission from Jacques Doucet in 1912 todecorate an apartment in a modern vein. Doucetwas to become Legrains most significant patron. In1917 the designer accepted a contract and a monthlyretainer to create modern bindings for his library;this evolved into an opportunity to create much ofthe furniture for Doucets home and in due courseto work closely with the architect Paul Ruaud on theinstallation of the Studio St James at Neuilly.

Pierre Legrain devised a strong style, quite differentfrom the fluid and feminine delicacies of his early

mentor Iribe. His signature approach was refinedyet vigorous; he favoured assertive, geometricforms that were largely without precedent in Frenchdesign; and, as with the present stool that he createdfor Doucet, he drew inspiration from the forcefulstructure and motifs of African models. In drawingfrom this source, Legrains work echoed in theapplied arts the considerable impact of African andOceanic arts in the fine arts during the early years ofthe century, notably in the emergence of Cubism.Legrain brought together in his furniture design anavant-garde formal invention and the preciousnessand respect for exotic materials and fine craft thathe had first developed as a creator of exquisitemodern bindings.

P.G.

Pierre Legrain, photographic portrait by Mme dOra

opposite page: PIERRE LEGRAIN (18881929) A curule stool of African inspiration, circa 19201925, stained beech wood,

20 78 in. (53 cm.) high, 19 12 in. (49.5 cm.) wide, 11 34 in. (30 cm.) deep. Estimate: 3400,000600,000

Pierre LegrainA designer in tune with his time

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The name Eileen Gray has acquired a legendarystatus in the annals of the applied arts of the early20th century. This Irishwoman, who made herprofessional career in Paris, was a figure ofseeming contradictions. Physically slight, veryprivate and self-effacingly modest she wasnonetheless singleminded, tenacious andresourceful and demonstrated an exceptionalindependence of spirit. Her creations embraceworks that represent extreme contrasts inapproach just compare her Dragons armchairand her hanging light in the present collection yet she proved herself able to change tack andevolve without betraying her fundamentalintegrity, ever curious to push herself in anongoing process of exploration and discovery. MissGrays initial successes were achieved through herintense engagement with the highly demandingmedium of lacquer. Fascinated by the mysteries ofthis substance and the craft traditions associatedwith it, she applied herself to mastering itschallenges. Her earliest recorded worksdemonstrate a considerable level of technical andconceptual achievement; she brilliantly allied craftskills with a poetic vision that involved symbolistfigures and expressive abstract forms, surfaceeffects and motifs. Her submission to the Salondes Artistes Dcorateurs in 1913 included anenigmatic figural panel Le Magicien de la Nuit,which attracted the attention of Jacques Doucet,

Eileen Gray, photographic portrait by Berenice Abbott

opposite page: EILEEN GRAY (18781976) A satellite hanging light, circa 1925, ivory painted metal, 53 18 in. (135 cm.) high, 18 78 in. (48 cm.) diam.

Estimate: 3600,000800,000

Eileen GrayAn Independent Vision

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who commissioned several pieces. He in turnintroduced her to a friend, Mme Mathieu-Lvy,known also by the professional name SuzanneTalbot in the fashion business, who commissionedMiss Gray to refurbish and furnish her rue de Lotaapartment. This project, executed around19201922, provided considerable creativefreedom, and the end result spaces lined withlacquer panels as a setting for furniture forms ofextraordinary refinement and inventiveness wasconfident and magical and attracted attention asone of the most notable Paris interiors of its day,featuring in Feuillets dArt in February-March 1922and later in American Harpers Bazaar. Two of thepieces in the collection of Saint Laurent and Berg,the Dragons armchair and the enfilade, are fromthis important provenance.

Miss Grays interests moved in fresh directions inthe early twenties. She became increasingly drawnto emerging ideas in architecture that pursued anew technical and stylistic language theModernist architectural vision of utopian,technologically progressive construction, and itsfurniture counterpart of functionalist materialsand forms. Grays innate instinct for the expressivegave great individuality to the experimental, overtlyfunctionalist pieces that she developed in this newidiom. Her hanging light of diminishing discs andcones is a perfect instance of this ability to infuseeverything she designed, however apparentlysimple, with her unique visual eloquence.

P.G.

The Dragons armchair in situ in the apartment of Mme Mathieu-Lvy as redecorated by Paul RuaudPublished in LIllustration in 1933

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EILEEN GRAY (18781976) The Dragons armchair, before 1920, brownish orange lacquer with patinated silver leaf inclusions, upholstered in brown

leather, 24 in. (61 cm.) high, 35 34 in. (91 cm.) wide, 26 38 in. (67 cm.) deep Provenance: Madame Mathieu-Lvy (known professionally as Suzanne Talbot). Estimate: 32,000,0003,000,000

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The enfilade as first published in Wendingen, 1924

EILEEN GRAY (18781976) The enfilade, circa 191517 silver grey lacquer, reddish-brown laque arrache, red lacquer, silvered bronze handles,

36 58 in. (93 cm.) high, 88 12 in. (225 cm.) long, 20 in. (50.8 cm.) deep. Provenance: Madame Mathieu-Lvy (known professionally as Suzanne Talbot). Estimate: 33,000,0005,000,000

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Armand-Albert RateauA modern link with the antique

Armand-Albert Rateau, born in Paris in 1882,found his precocious direction in the world of artwhen he joined the cole Boulle in 1894. After twoyears of study, he trained as an apprentice tofamous decorators until 1919 when he set up inindependent practice and secured his firstimportant commission for the Blumenthalmansion in New York.

The table by Rateau that features in the collectionof Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergcorresponds to the model created for theBlumenthal residence, where it was situatedtogether with a set of bronze armchairs beside theindoor swimming pool. Another table of thisdesign was presented in the Pavillon de lElgancewithin the Exposition Internationale des ArtsDcoratifs in Paris in 1925. The Blumenthalcommission paved the way for an impressive eraof creativity on the part of this artist whose designsare quite unlike the work of any of hiscontemporaries. Rateau found a number ofsignificant patrons who greatly appreciated thedistinctive elements of his style and the quality of execution of his pieces. He followed his ownpath and showed no interest in aligning himselfwith the grand cabinetmaking and traditionalFrench stylistic references of creators such as

mile-Jacques Ruhlmann, nor with the newsynthesis of modern architecture and applied artadvocated by the Union des Artistes Modernes.

His essential originality was in the invention ofnovel and supremely elegant forms that drew theirreferences from Graeco-Roman, Egyptian andMesopotamian antiquity. His favoured mediumwas green-patinated bronze and his favouredmotifs were stylised plants and animal subjects.One of his major commissions was the furnishingand decoration of the Paris home of Jeanne Lanvinin the period 19201925. Here he demonstrated allhis skills in creating engaging environments andthe charming details that were integral to theeffect of his schemes, particularly the stylisedbestiaries that are so strongly associated with hisimagination. In the Lanvin living room was a pairof bronze and alabaster table lamps aux fennecs, anidea replicated by Rateau in his own Htelparticulier, quai de Conti. In the collection of YvesSaint Laurent and Pierre Berg we rediscover threeexceptional pieces by Rateau the table with itsmarine motifs, a pair of lamps aux fennecs and anelegant armchair carved with stylised birds. Suchcreations exhibit the sophistication, charm andimagination that were key to the talent anddeserved success of Armand-Albert Rateau.

Hlin Serre

ARMAND-ALBERT RATEAU (18821938) An armchair, circa 1920, green painted wood, brown leather upholstered,

36 12 in. (92.5 cm.) high, 31 12 in. (80 cm.) wide, 33 12 in. (85 cm.) deep. Estimate: 360,00080,000

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ARMAND-ALBERT RATEAU (18821938) A pair of table lamps aux fennecs, circa 192025, alabaster, green patinated bronze, 19 14 in. (49 cm.) high

Estimate: 3250,000350,000

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A magnificent pair of vases have, since the early70s, stood in silent yet potent majesty either sideof the long sofa sited against the west wall of thegrand salon of Saint Laurents rue de Babyloneapartment. Ovoid, raised on stepped bases, thevases are of black lacquered metal with thedistinctive geometric motifs in red and gold thatidentify them immediately as the work of JeanDunand. These are key elements within a broadrange of works by this artist that feature within thecollection of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergand that lend their particular flavour to thecollections evocation of the finest achievements ofthe French decorative arts of the 1920s.

Jean Dunand rose to prominence for his work inlacquer, though his first interest was in sculpture.The practical aspects of his work as a sculptorinvolved him in learning the crafts of casting andworking metals and this became a fascination thattook him in a new direction. He became a masterof dinanderie, the painstaking crafts of decorativemetalwork, and in turn he became interested inlacquer, having first explored the possibilities ofthis natural material to protect and enhance thesurfaces of his metal artifacts.

Sculptor, dinandier and lacquer artist, Dunandexcelled in each field. He exhibited annually at theSalons from 1905 and achieved considerablecommercial and critical success. By 1925 he wasamong the most known and respected artist-craftsmen of his generation, with a substantial

atelier and workforce and an order book ofprestigious commissions. By then he had alsoeffected introductions into the world of fashionand counted such luminaries as Mme Agns,Jeanne Lanvin and Madeleine Vionnet among hisclients. In the context of the 1925 ExpositionInternationale, Dunand was designated Vice-President for the Metal section. His contribution asexhibitor included an important commission tocreate four monumental vases for the innercourtyard of the Pavillon des Mtiers dArt. Thesesuperb vases are two of the original four.

Pauline de Smedt

Photographic portrait of Jean Dunand

opposite page: JEAN DUNAND (18771942) A pair of armchairs, circa 1925, red lacquered wood, upholstered in black silk,

30 18 in. (76.5 cm.) high, 23 14 in. (59 cm.) wide, 22 78 in. (58 cm.) deep. Estimate: 3400,000600,000

Jean DunandArtist in lacquer

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JEAN DUNAND (18771942) Two monumental vases for the Exposition Internationale, 1925 dinanderie, with red and

gold lacquer decoration on a black ground, 39 38 in. (100 cm.) high. Estimate: 31,000,0001,500,000

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Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berg were the firstto rediscover the talent of Jean-Michel Frank. Thedecorators achievements had been socomprehensively overlooked that it was verydifficult, 40 years ago, to establish any detailedsense of his achievements. From the early 70s,Saint Laurent and Berg became pioneers incollecting his deceptively simple furniture with itssurfaces of straw, ivory, galuchat or mica. If theirinterest in Frank was a reflection of the brillianceof their intuition and eye, it was also the verylogical consequence of their culture. For Franksworld was that to which these collectors becameheirs the world of Jean Cocteau and of ChristianBrard and also of Marcel Proust. Theirs wasprecisely that high fashion world in which Frankhad made his mark as a decorator. And it is surelynot possible to trace these connections without inturn making reference to Vicomte Charles andVicomtesse Marie-Laure de Noailles, greatcollectors, patrons and hosts, for whose Parishome Frank had created characteristicallyunderstated but wonderful interiors. In thefootsteps of Saint Laurent and Berg, many otherswere soon eager to at last celebrate Frank as one ofthe great talents in the decorative arts of the 20thcentury. Ownership of his creations became arecognised measure of all that was quintessentiallyrefined in Parisian taste.

Pierre-Emmanuel Martin-VivierAuthor of Jean-Michel Frank

ltrange luxe du rien, Rizzoli, 2008

Photographic portrait of Jean-Michel Frank

opposite page: Period installation of designs by Jean-Michel Frank

Jean-Michel Frank The luxury of elimination

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JEAN-MICHEL FRANK (18951941) A low table, circa 1929, mica veneered, 15 34 in. (40 cm.) high, 37 58 in. (95.5 cm.) long, 16 78 in. (43 cm.) wide

Estimate: 3200,000300,000

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JEAN-MICHEL FRANK (18951941) A table lamp, circa 1926, block of rock crystal on a bronze base, 10 78 in. (27.5 cm.) high. Estimate: 380,000120,000

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In 1929, Alberto Giacometti exhibited works inplaster, including his Tte qui regarde and Figure, atthe prestigious gallery of Jeanne Bucher. Thisexhibition was to prove pivotal in his career as itintroduced the artist to the Surrealist movementand to Jean-Michel Frank who had become an earlyfollower through his two childhood friends, thewriter Ren Crevel and leading Surrealist editorJean-Pierre Quint. Frank is credited with drawingGiacomettis work to the attention of the celebratedart patrons Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailleswho were always eager to discover new talents andeventually bought the panel Tte qui regarde. In1930, Giacomettis brother Diego joined him andsettled in Paris, becoming his close collaborator.They started to create decorative objects in plaster

and in bronze, mainly for Jean-Michel Frank,assuming a leading and prestigious positionamong the creators showcased in the boutique thatFrank opened in 1935 on the rue du FaubourgSaint-Honor.

Alberto Giacometti was surely the artist who bestunderstood Jean-Michel Franks particularsensibility and needs, his creations becomingintegral to the decorators interiors, contributing tohis concept of modest luxury. His plaster objectsand lights show his interest in ancient civilisationsand his pursuit of their original forms and designscreates timeless, silent and mysterious objects witha strong archeological feeling; the willfulirregularity in their making reveals deliberate tracesof the human hand. Giacometti generally usedwhite plaster, respecting the Frank dictum ofunderstatement, and works in tinted plaster, suchas the pure and delicate blue tinted coup of around1935 presented here are exceedingly rare. AlbertoGiacometti also created a number of models inbronze for Jean-Michel Frank, among them theclassic floor lamp, Tte de femme, of around 193335,in the collection of Yves Saint Laurent and PierreBerg. While this iconic light design serves apractical function, it shares with Giacomettissculpture his core preoccupation, the challenge asan artist to achieve the expressive representation ofthe human figure.

S.G.

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (19011966) For Jean-Michel Frank (18951941). Coup Ovale, designed circa 1935, blue patinated plaster,

8 12 in. (21.5 cm.) high, 14 in. (35.5 cm.) long, 11 58 in. (29.5 cm.) wide. Estimate: 340,00060,000

opposite page: ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (19011966)For Jean-Michel Frank (18951941). Figure, floor lamp, designed circa 193334, dark green patinated bronze,

60 12 in. (153.5 cm.) high. Estimate: 380,000120,000

Alberto Giacometti

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As Art Deco evolved through the 1920s towardsthe synthesis of luxury, simplicity and elegance,the style found its perfect champion in EugnePrintz. From his beginnings as a cabinetmaker forPierre Chareau, he rose to prominence as adesigner and decorator with a strong vision. ThePrintz style stands out for its independentcharacter and its inventive and idiosyncratictouches, adapted to modern techniques whilerepresenting a continuum of great Frenchtraditions. Ernest Tisserand summarised this in a1928 article in LArt vivant: one also has toemphasise the quality of his furniture. It is hard toimagine anything better. Eugne Printz... strivesfor perfection in aesthetics as well as in technicalexecution. Conscious of the great cabinetmakers ofthe past, he aspires to match or even surpassthem. Our children will find his worksprominently displayed in museums, and hisfurniture will pass like that of Boulle and ofRiesener through the hands of collectors andauctioneers. From the collection of Yves SaintLaurent and Pierre Berg, through the hands of

Christies, the present piece is a perfect vindicationof Tisserands shrewd prognosis.

This long bookcase, executed circa 1930 in palmwood veneer, reveals much about the 18th-centurydevices that were dear to Printz and that he sosuccessfully accommodated within the functionalistapproach of the era in which the piece wasconceived. A clever concealed mechanism allowseach of the eight folding doors that compose thefaade to reveal either a bookcase or a displaycabinet, to be configured in a variety of ways, asdesired. The careful attention given to choice ofmaterial and form so distinctive of the work ofPrintz is evidenced also in the finesse of suchdetails as the handles and keyholes. Printzexpressed his ambition succinctly: I want myfurniture to be alive. Each piece of furniture that heconceived reveals its autonomous strengths as wellas the ability of works by Printz to coexistharmoniously with pieces that reflect other aestheticapproaches, as was so effectively demonstrated inthe rue de Babylone.

Emmanuelle Karsenti

EUGNE PRINTZ (18891948) A large bookcase, circa 1930, palm wood veneered, sycamore interior, oxidized brass drawer handles, 43 14 in. (110 cm.) high, 102 38 in. (260 cm.) wide, 16 38 in. (41.5 cm.) deep. Estimate: 3400,000600,000

Eugne Printz

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Maurice Marinot was an exceptional figure as bothartist and artisan and arguably the most importantFrench glass maker of the first half of the 20thcentury. Marinot turned his attention to the mediumof glass in 1911. He was fascinated by the character ofmolten glass and began to design models that hethen enamelled himself, applying his training as apainter to this new medium. Working in the Viardstudios, he became ever more closely engaged withthe intrinsic qualities of glass itself and was soonworking at the furnace, and becoming bolder in hisapproach. He started to experiment with glass thatshowed characteristics that would conventionally bedescribed as imperfections; he decided to exploit tohis artistic ends such features as random bubblesthat would normally have been reason to reject awork in progress.

From 1922 he abandoned surface decoration toconcentrate exclusively on the potential of thevitreous mass. He trapped colours between thicklayers of glass, mastered the control of flights ofair bubbles, and etched deep into the surface withacid to achieve an effect of rough-hewn ice. Thevessels that bear his signature vases and mostfrequently flacons with tiny stoppers wereentirely his own creations, from the design andchemical research to the furnace and finishingstages. An idea could take up to a year ofexperiment and effort before he was satisfied withthe eventual result. Each survivor of hischallenging procedures was unique. By the time ofthe Exposition Internationale of 1925 Marinot hadwon international recognition for his innovative

approach to the medium, less interested in thesuperficially decorative, focused rather oncapturing and expressing the inherent magic andphenomena of the glass itself. He had manyfollowers, including individuals such as AndrThuret and also major commercial firms likeDaum who adapted certain of his ideas and effects.Poor health and the closure in 1937 of the Viardglassworks marked the end of his work with glass.His influence on the development of studio glasshas been considerable. Andr Derain commentedrespectfully: I have never seen anything asbeautiful which was at the same time so preciousand so simple.

P. de S.

Maurice Marinot

Maurice Marinot at work, from a documentary film by Jean-Benot Lvy and Ren Chavance

opposite page: MAURICE MARINOT (18821960)The collection of flacons, 192328, 6 12 in. (16.5 cm.) max height

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Albert Cheuret

The signature of Albert Cheuret is to be found ona very distinctive range of furniture and lighting ofthe 1920s and 1930s. These works show hisparticular skill in the bold adaptation of stylisedanimal and plant subjects into simple, strong, yetgracious forms, executed in his favoured materials silvered or patinated bronze and alabaster. Whilehis work is impressive and immediatelyrecognisable featuring in major internationalpublic and private collections the man behindthese creations remains elusive. Cheuret was bornin 1884; in 1907 he was already exhibiting hissculpture at the Salon des Artistes Franais,alongside celebrated artists of the era such as Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, Auguste Rodin andAntoine Bourdelle. Cheuret was soon to apply histalent as a sculptor to furniture design and heshowed a special flair in the creation of lamps andlight fittings in which alabaster panels, often cutinto the shapes of formalised leaves, served togently diffuse the light. The historic 1925Exposition Internationale des Arts Dcoratifs etIndustriels Modernes in Paris provided him withthe opportunity to present a selection of hiscreations that included wall sconces, ceiling lightsand consoles of the type that are so highly prizedtoday. Within the collection of Yves Saint Laurent

and Pierre Berg we rediscover three exceptionalpieces that perfectly express Cheurets sensibility.Here is a dramatic and elegant console, its steppedblack marble top supported by three majestic, life-size rearing cobras, their scales subtly rendered inthe finely chased surface of the bronze. A similarconsole with a large, angular mirror featured inCheurets 1925 exhibit. Two large, plant-formlamps illustrate the artists sensitive appreciationboth of his materials and of the atmosphere thatartfully modulated light can contribute to aninterior an aspect of his work perfectly reflectedin the salon of the rue de Babylone.

H.S.

ALBERT CHEURET (18841966) A large alos lamp, circa 192530, patinated bronze, alabaster panels, 30 18 in. (76.5 cm.) high. Estimate: 3150,000200,000

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ALBERT CHEURET (18841966) Console table aux cobras, circa 1925, silvered bronze, black marble,

38 58 in. (98 cm.) high, 47 14 in. (120 cm.) wide, 12 14 in. (31 cm.) deep. Estimate: v150,000200,000

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The German architect Eckart Muthesius was 25when he met the equally young man who was tobe his most illustrious patron, the Maharaja ofIndore, Yeswant Rao Holkar Bahadur. In 1930, theMaharaja commissioned Muthesius to design amodern palace that became his most prestigiousachievement the Palace of Manik Bagh (JewelGardens), in the central Indian state of Mahratta.The son of the already renowned architectHermann Muthesius, founder of the GermanWerkbund, Eckart Muthesius shared with theyoung Maharaja a taste for the clean lines andpurity of the Modernist style.

During his educational sojourns in Europe, theMaharaja developed a passionate commitment toEuropean avant-garde art and ideas. AdoptingEckart Muthesiuss mantra, Comfort, eleganceand simplicity, his palace perfectly illustrated theInternational Style of the time, adapted to atropical climate. Here, Eckart Muthesiusintegrated his own furniture designs withcreations by other leading contemporarymodernist architects and designers, many of themmembers of the Union des Artistes Modernes.They included the German architects Wassily andHans Luckhart and Marcel Breuer; the Frencharchitect Le Corbusier, working in collaborationwith Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret;designers Charlotte Alix and Louis Sognot, EileenGray and Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, the lattercontributing pieces in a new pared-down style.Carpets by Ivan da Silva Bruhns and silver by Jean Puiforcat complemented the furniture.

After the Maharajas death in 1956, his widow,children and heirs maintained the spirit of thepalace until it was eventually sold and much of thefurniture found its way to auction in a historic salein Monte Carlo in 1980, among which were theexceptional lightings by Muthesius presented here.Executed in alpaca, a silver alloy with a distinctivemuted surface, the wall-mounted floor lamps werefrom a set of six installed around the dining room,while the unique pair of standing lamps featured asluminous sentinels in the entrance hall. Thesophistication of these pure and elegant designs byMuthesius subtly echoes the fine aestheticexigencies that characterise the choices made byYves Saint Laurent and Pierre Berg, while theirdistinguished provenance reflects the collectorsfascination with cultural history.

S.G.

Eckart MuthesiusFor the Maharaja of Indore

ECKART MUTHESIUS (19041989) A pair of wall-mounted standard lamps, 1930, alpaca, 83 58 in. (212.5 cm.) high. Estimate: 3400,000600,000

The Maharaja of Indore

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Claude and Franois-Xavier Lalanne

A brilliant partnership

Franois-Xavier Lalanne recently recalled themoment he and Claude first met Yves SaintLaurent. The 25-year-old couturier had just joinedthe house of Dior; the artists were ten years hissenior. Their friendship lasted nearly half a centuryand was celebrated in two major commissions: thebar by Franois-Xavier of 1964 and the mirrors forthe salon de musique, first discussed with Claude in1972. Other creations that should not beoverlooked include: the historic collaboration ofClaude Lalanne in 1969 on Yves Saint Laurentshaute couture collection with her Empreintes; workscreated for the Chteau Gabriel, notably a love-seatand a pair of candelabra for the dining room; and,for the garden of the rue de Babylone, armchairs inthe form of birds by Franois, cut under thedirection of architect Manolis Karantinos in a whiteCretan marble. The Lalannes are among the veryfew artists to have established a close bond withBerg and Saint Laurent along with Andy Warhol,whose portraits of the couturier have become sowell known.

It was in 1964, when Yves Saint Laurent wasworking on his Mondrian collection, that he andPierre Berg invited Franois Lalanne to create asculptural bar. In response to this, his first privatecommission, the sculptor who refused toacknowledge any distinction between functional ornon-functional art devised a robust rectangularconsole, with a frame of steel cut with a blow-torch. This contains the two maillechort alloyshelves within which are set the overscaled serviceelements. These comprise a huge hammered brassegg with a counterweight system that allows thetop to rise and reveal the bottle store; a translucentspherical glass ice container blown in theCristalleries of Choisy-le-Roi; a very tall cylindricalvase from the same maker, inspired by the gianttest tubes developed for nuclear research in theAtomic Centre at Saclay; and finally a metalcocktail shaker, evoking the horn drinking vesselsof the Renaissance, piercing the bar as if it hasbeen gored by a rhinoceros. This private bar isfrom the same period as the flocks of bronze-featured wool sheep that attracted so much

FRANOIS-XAVIER LALANNE (19272008) The YSL bar, 1965, maillechort, steel and glass, 51 18 in. (130 cm.) high, 65 34 in. (167 cm.) wide, 21 18 in. (53.5 cm.) deep.

Estimate: 3200,000300,000

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attention when presented by Franois Lalanne atthe Salon de la Jeune Peinture in 1965 and pre-dates the famous Bar aux Autruches made inSvres porcelain in 1966 for the Elyse Palace.

In 1969, Yves Saint Laurent was captivated bygalvanic casts made from nature by ClaudeLalanne. In a Pop spirit embracing the liberationof the naked body Hair was a hit in London andNew York in 1968 and in Paris in 1969 heproposed that his smoking jacket be worn over asee-through blouse of fine crpe through whichthe models breasts could be perceived. For hisautumn collection, Empreintes, he asked Claude tomake casts directly from his model-museVeruschka. The texture of her skin was subtlytransmutated via the shimmer of gilded bronze asreplications of her neck, breasts and waist becamesumptuous jewels, perfectly integrated within thefluid, aristocratic elegance of simple eveningsheath dresses.

In early 1972, when Yves Saint Laurent and PierreBerg moved into the rue de Babylone apartment,they invited Claude Lalanne to make two mirrorsto add light in the salon de musique. She createdmonumental bronze frames modelled as vigorousplant stems to set against the dark brown laquer ofthe walls. The reeded branches imposed a visualrhythm in the asymmetrical flow of their lines.

Claude Lalanne had taken as her source a variety ofexotic botanical specimens, from tough Siberianspecies to delicate roots, and hidden among these,or bursting from them were the large, veined leavesof Chinese or Japanese hostas, gathered from hergarden and galvanically replicated in metal.

No sooner were these installed than Yves SaintLaurent wanted to extend the concept with afurther suite of thirteen mirrors, one alsoincorporating light fittings. The end result is asubtle reinterpretation of the mirror room of theAmalienburg Pavilion in the Nymphenburg Park,Munich. The distinguished and exquisiteenvironment created by Claude Lalanne plays acentral part in the supremely gracious andsophisticated ambiance that Yves Saint Laurentand Pierre Berg refined over so many years.

Daniel MarchesseauAuthor of the biography, Les Lalanne, Flammarion,

Paris New York, 1998

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CLAUDE LALANNE (B. 1924) The fifteen mirrors for salon de musique, 197485, gilt bronze and galvanized copper,

maximum individual dimension: 109 12 93 34 in. (278 238 cm.) Estimate: 3700,0001,000,000

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SALE: LE GRAND PALAIS, PARIS, TUESDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2009, 6 PMENQUIRIES: PHILIPPE GARNER, + 44 (0)20 7389 2366, PGARNER@CHRISTIES.COMSONJA GANNE, +33 (0)1 40 76 86 21, SGANNE@CHRISTIES.COM

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That which is quiet, that which is fleeting,remains, like a jewel among the shadows. It is elusive and, in the heady fragrance of lilies (lys inFrench, an anagram of YSL) is the memory of aman whose words were inscribed on a vast blankpage, reflected to infinity in the grey-blue Parissky. Yves Saint Laurent spoke of the sparkling veilof dead stars. Under the grand crystal chandelierof his couture house, and in the secrets of the ruede Babylone, the lair where he stored the fruits ofhis travels, the child with nerves of steel, as theJapanese poet Mishima called him, revealed himself through his passions.

I attempt to create all the people around me, tocreate beauty while respecting the bodies I clothe,so that all these women, even the least beautiful,can be the most beautiful. There is always in meboth the love of women, and the impossibility ofloving them, he said. Beyond his demandingstandards, quick to transform a sketch into acomplex construction, there was the discipline thatmade every Yves Saint Laurent garment a shieldagainst ennui; a barrier against what he fearedmost in the world: the emptiness of the void.

Yves Saint Laurents strength lay in having dressednot one era, but several, enchanting each one withthe whirl of his collections, written like chapters ofa story imbued with fire, dreams and melancholy.A painter of feelings, Yves Saint Laurent could wellhave belonged to the obsessive family of thosewhose works he and Pierre Berg collected, beingattracted by the strong passions that the worksthemselves revealed. Through unusual magnetism,

Yves Saint Laurent made those works what theyare, when others merely passed them by. Somesilently correspond with their demons while othersjudge them.

In Yves Saint Laurents view, the past becamepresent, the model became an apparition, loadedwith a burning secret. Though he loved art toomuch to try to reconstitute it through his fashion,Yves Saint Laurent wanted to recount everythinghe had seen. Matisses blinding light. Mondrianscolourful prisms. The vertiginous lines of Braqueand Picasso; Velazquezs velvets and Van Dyckscrinkly taffetas. Manets pinks and Nicolas deStals skies, his seas shimmering with yellowhues, blocks of green and violet breaking against ared wave. Rothkos flat planes in motion; FransHals blacks. In his work, everything seemedinfused with the immortal appetite for thebeautiful so dear to Baudelaire.

Like Gauguin, who continually painted orangerivers and red dogs, like Bacon, whom he admired,Yves Saint Laurent changed the perception offashion through visions. In those who no longerbelieved in the future, he injected a poison capableof causing folly and beauty, he was a dream weaverfor women to whom he declared his love, seasonafter season. Women he invited to recreatethemselves, reinvent themselves as best they might,becoming androgynous yet siren-like, dreaming ofbeing the most beautiful, the most fragrant and themost hated as everything quietly slipped away andmuses with masculine shoulders were eclipsed by astorm of people in search of identity.

Yves Saint LaurentHunter of Spells

By Laurence Benam

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The strength of Yves Saint Laurent lay in attractingall the women of character in the light-headednessof those artificial paradises where Vermeers Girlwith a Pearl Earring and Delacroixs Women ofAlgiers crossed paths. All those who gavethemselves to him, with their Madonna orodalisque bodies surged out of the Ballets OpraBallets Russes haute couture collection of July1976. I dont know if its my most beautifulcollection he said, but its certainly my favourite.

Instead of the established good taste of the 18thcentury, the bourgeoisies aristocratic must-havefor decoration, Yves Saint Laurent preferred theenchantment of all that was bizarre, like thejumble of splendours, promoted by that olfactorydestiny, his perfume Opium. Admitting that hehad a passion for objects that represent birds andsnakes he confessed that in reality, he was afraidof those animals. Rue de Babylone, where familiarshadows crossed paths more than actual visitors,the Yves Saint Laurent universe, loaded withreferences, as it still is, expressed a categoricalrefusal of the academic, the ivory tower of taste.

As the first to elevate the defect to the status ofgrace, to mix evening and day, the cloister with thebazaar, the first to make the beaux quartiers dreamof an elixir of spices and demons, Yves SaintLaurent drew colour from within himself and wascapable of corrupting traditional garments to makethem into courtly dress, forcing open the palacedoors to steal the recluses within, turning theminto idols: I liberate you, my aesthetic ghosts, myqueens, my divas, my whirling ftes, my inky,crpe de Chine nights, my lakes of Coromandel,my artificial lakes, and my hanging gardens.

The first designer to display his work in amuseum while still alive, the first designer to forgehis own legend, Yves Saint Laurent also built hisdream castle, whose dazzling memories belongedto Maria Callas, Louis II of Bavaria, Verdi, Marie-Laure de Noailles and Misia Sert. His divineintimates included Marcel Proust, ChristianBrard, Louis Jouvet and Jean Cocteau; from this

cast of characters emerged a special way ofcausing encounters between a photograph and abook, a Renaissance bronze and a straw marquetrytable by Jean-Michel Frank.

Despite all the honours, all the retrospectives, allthe books, Yves Saint Laurent is the most elusiveof all designers, evading everyone, everything,noise and silence, behind the bars of his goldencage. Doubtless this is because Yves SaintLaurents style cannot be defined by a single tasteor category of clothing: it is an attitude, like thestyle he one day laconically described as: A jazzyparty tune humming out of a slow-moving RollsRoyce. Thats one way to describe yourself.

He crossed the sea to get to the capital, which hewas able to infuse with his own colours. As afigure of exile, a cosmopolitan with no otherrefuge than that of the spirit, even until the endYves Saint Laurent found the strength totransform, through alchemy, black into gold. Hedelineated singular, eccentric, borderlinetemperaments, when his craft demanded that heonly design dresses for escorts, mistresses andwives. In the aura of an annexe, the Augsburgewers, the paintings, the Art Deco furniture,played their own role in this shadow play whosesecrets he endlessly captured, a play where aBurne-Jones tapestry continually weavesextravagant secrets with a Dunand vase, so thateach work gives off the bold essence of desire.

Laurence Benam Journalist, writer and director of Stiletto Magazine

(www.stiletto.fr), and the author of the first biography on Yves Saint Laurent, (Grasset, 1993), republished in 2008

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old master paintings & drawings

The Old Master paintings and drawings collected by Yves Saint Laurent and PierreBerg were handed down to them by others who had loved and protected these masterpieces before them; the Goncourt brothers, for instance, who owned the fascinating Portrait of a Man by Jacques-Louis David; the 18th-century opera singer whoowned Gainsboroughs portrait of a fellow singer; the refined European art amateurswho owned the Frans Hals. The other common denominator, other than fascinatingprovenance, of the Old Master paintings and drawings in this collection is that they allfocus on the human figure.

Elvire de MaintenantSenior Specialist, Old Master Paintings, Paris

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Frans Hals

FRANS HALS (CIRCA 15801666)Portrait of a man holding a book, oil on canvas, 26 19 14 in. (65.7 48.7 cm.). Estimate: 3800,0001,200,000

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Portrait of a man holding a book by Frans Hals was worthy of itsplace in the collection: The artist, who was one of the greatest portrait painters of the Dutch Golden Age, fell into obscurity at theend of the 17th century. It was only circa 1860, at the dawn ofImpressionism, that his reputation was restored, initially inFrance. His artistic legacy was acknowledged by the great modernpainters including Courbet, Czanne, Manet and Van Gogh.

The work is remarkable for its mastery, the bright colours beingreplaced by more monochromatic effects and the simple, triangularcomposition being employed to demonstrate a level of dignity andgreat psychological intensity. It can be dated to between 1640 and1643, a time when Hals was doubtless aware of the competition, in a neighbouring town, of a young Rembrandt. The history of the painting, which is exceptionally well preserved, remains a mystery prior to its reappearance in Berlin in 1900. The paintinghas subsequently been exhibited on several occasions at the FransHals Museum in Haarlem and the Boymans Museum in Rotterdam.Until 1997, it belonged to the collector Saul Steinberg, who owned abeautiful collection of Dutch and Flemish works.

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Baron Antoine-Jean Gros

This ambitious composition was commissioned in 1821 by thefuture King of France, Louis-Philippe dOrlans for his gallery ofcontemporary art in the Palais Royal. It was included in the Kingsmajor estate sale in 1851. Exhibited in the 1822 Salon, it testifies toGross attempt to return to subjects of antiquity and to the teachingof his master, David.

E. de M.

BARON ANTOINE-JEAN GROS (17711835)David playing the harp for King Saul, oil on canvas, 68 12 93 14 in. (174 237 cm.). Estimate: 3250,000350,000

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Pieter de Hooch

A young woman feeding a parrot by Pieter de Hooch, painted in about1680, has all the elegance and refinement of works from the artistslater period. At the time, de Hooch was moving away from the influence of Johannes Vermeer who had been his main rival in Delft, to meet the demands of his wealthy Amsterdam clientele. The masterful treatment of fabrics and the taste for aristocratic detail,which are bound up with the contemporary works of the finjschildersGerard ter Borch and Frans van Mieris, found an echo in the eyes ofYves Saint Laurent, who wanted to weave a bond between paintingand clothes. (Yves Saint Laurent, February 2004, in Dialogue avec lart,exhibition, Pierre Berg Yves Saint Laurent Foundation.)

At the beginning of the 19th century the painting was in France,appearing in the great Constantin and Prignon auctions. It wasexhibited by Sedelmeyer in 1905 before leaving Europe for a numberof years, subsequently being included in the major sale ofBaron and Baroness Cassel van Doorns collection at the GalerieCharpentier in Paris in March 1954.

E. de M.

PIETER DE HOOCH (16291684)A young woman feeding a parrot, oil on canvas, 20 12 17 12 in. (52 44.5 cm.). Estimate: v200,000300,000

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Thomas Gainsborough

The Portrait of Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci, by Thomas Gainsborough,displays exceptional vitality. It once belonged to the London tenorJohn Braham and subsequently to the great English collector JohnHeugh, whose collection was auctioned by Christies in 1874. The extravagant castrato, who was also a composer, is depictedsinging and the picture seems to vibrate with his vocal exercises.It was probably painted in Bath in around 17731774; its informalityappears to suggest that the artist and the singer were acquaintances.Gainsborough, who was a music lover, spent a great deal of time in the company of musicians and the two men may have beenintroduced by their mutual friend Johann Christian Bach.

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THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH R.A. (17271788)Portrait of Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci, oil on canvas, 30 25 in. (76.6 64 cm.). Estimate: v400,000600,000

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Portrait of a man in profile is reproduced in most works devoted to Jacques-Louis David and has been exhibited on numerous occasions. Without a doubt,this celebrity status the term Davidian icon springs to mind is due asmuch to its obvious pictorial qualities as to its traditional identification as theonly known self-portrait drawn by the artist and its remarkable provenance:this is the only drawing by David to have been included in the Goncourt brothers collection.

In May 1795, David, a member of the Comit de Salut Public, was accused byanti-Jacobin forces, and convicted by the Convention. On 28 May he wasarrested, and on the following day imprisoned in the Four-Nations jail. Here,he found himself in the company of his peers, Jacobin deputies who like himwere awaiting judgement, and he began to draw their portraits. This famousseries of nine roundel portraits, all of the same size, format and technique,most of which are today in public collections, has been incisively described byLouis-Antoine Prat, co-author of the catalogue raisonn of Davids drawings,as a chain of friendship and resistance against injustice and failed politicswhat is most striking is their steady gaze, as well as their unbending dignityof bearing.

The present portrait has often been identified as the Goncourt medallion forhaving been in the collection of Edmond and Jules de Goncourt. A rare photo-graph shows the framed portrait prominently displayed in the drawing-room oftheir residence in Auteuil. It was the Goncourts who first identified the sitter asJacques-Louis David himself, but most scholars now believe that the drawing is not a self-portrait, mainly because one cannot see the wen, clearly visible on Davids left cheek in his other self-portraits. Moreover, it has been arguedthat it would have been difficult for David to get hold of three mirrors whileimprisoned, this being the only possible system that would have allowed him to draw himself in profile. Despite all of these remarks, the ambiguity of itsidentification still remains and enhances the mystery of this work.

Jacques-Louis David

JACQUES-LOUIS DAVID (17481825)Portrait of a man in profile, pencil, pen and black ink, black and grey wash,

heightened with white, brown ink framing lines, 7 in. (178 mm.) diam. Estimate: v400,000600,000

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Although conventionally placed in profile, following a tradition established inantique portrait medals and perpetrated in France through Charles-NicolasCochins drawn and engraved profile portraits, this drawing is anything butconventional. With his steady posture and fiercely crossed arms, the unknownsitter conveys defiance against the power that has placed him in jail. Themulti-collared frock coat, the flamboyantly knotted cravat, and the carefullydepicted wig, are almost a fashion statement, as if David wanted the sitter tobe immediately recognised as one of the well-dressed men who occupied thehighest ranks of the National Convention, and not as a poor sans-culotte. Theundeniable elegance of this little, precious portrait is enhanced by the neatlines strongly drawn in black ink that define the rigid features of the sitter, hispristine white necktie, and the curls of his wig.

At first glance, the viewer almost misses the softly posed fingers, lurking inthe folds of the coat; one is initially attracted by the very poignant face, and itis only by allowing the eye to peruse the drawing for a few minutes, movingfrom the face, down to the knot of the tie, the buttons and the complex foldsof the coat, that one suddenly notices the carefully looked-after fingers, as ifthe artist has voluntarily placed here this small detail for the enjoyment of the careful observer, and not the indifferent passer-by whom Edmond deGoncourt would surely have criticised.

Ketty GottardoDirector, Old Master Drawings, Paris

Interior of the Goncourts House in Auteuil

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Jean-Auguste-DominiqueIngres

The three portrait drawings by Ingres in the Yves Saint Laurent andPierre Berg collection share many characteristics. All were executedin Rome; the portraits of Alaux and Taurel in 18161819, the portraitof Baltard in 1837. They all represent young, promising and ambitiousartists who were in Italy having won the Prix de Rome in theirrespective metiers: painting, engraving and architecture. The threeartists were part of Ingress entourage and all enjoyed a long friendshipwith the great painter, who was not only their elder but could alsobe considered, particularly by Taurel and Baltard, as their mentor.These drawings are not the fruits of a cold commission but all wereexecuted as a testimony of friendship. The Taurel was made as awedding present for the sitters wife, the adoptive daughter of CharlesThvenin, the then director of the Villa Medici, which is visible inthe background of this work.

JEAN-AUGUSTE-DOMINIQUE INGRES (17801867)Portrait of Jean Alaux, pencil, 5 6 14 in. (129 165 mm.). Estimate: v80,000120,000

JEAN-AUGUSTE-DOMINIQUE INGRES (17801867)Portrait of Victor Baltard, pencil on brown paper, originally cream paper, the outlines of the architecture partly incised

12 9 38 in. (328 251 mm.). Estimate: v200,000300,000

opposite page: JEAN-AUGUSTE-DOMINIQUE INGRES (17801867)Portrait of Andr-Benot Barreau, called Taurel, pencil, 11 18 8 in. (288 204 mm.). Estimate: 3400,000600,000

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JEAN-AUGUSTE-DOMINIQUE INGRES (17801867)Portrait of the Comtesse de La Rue, oil on panel, painted oval format, 11 12 9 14 in. (29 23.3 cm.)

Estimate: 32,000,0003,000,000

The painted Portrait of the Comtesse de La Rue, inscribed in an oval, isequally remarkable. The beautiful effigy is seen in front of a groveunder a cloudy sky. The first known feminine portrait painted byIngres, it is one of very few in which the sitter is represented in alandscape rather than an interior. The refinement of colour, theperfec