Animal: Musée des Arts Décoratifs

I awoke this morning to look at some old "furniture friends" at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. After winding through the menagerie of renaissance through art deco masterworks I stumbled upon their latest theme exhibition celebrating how man has utilized the animal in form or as material across a wide range of disciplines. Here are some highlights that made me crazy...in the best sense of course.

This polo shirt by designed by the Campana brothers for Lacoste in 2009 was quite wild. Not as wild as one of their stuffed animal chairs but playful nonetheless. It is literally alligator logos stitched together which gives the appearance of a rather pop culture play on lace...you would have to have it lined for sake of function, lest what is meant to be private becomes public.

Now I know giraffes are sweet and majestic with those long bashful eyelashes... but this giraffe fur coat from the Guy Laroche Fall/Winter 1965-66 is sublime. The graphic pattern of the hide is a happy marriage with the mod fashion period.

This imposing display dedicated to birds is fronted by an amazing peacock gate by wrought iron master Jean Perot.

I was completely unfamiliar with French designer Bernard Rancillac or his "Elephant Chair" of 1967. The wall decals by Studio Job and Adrien Gardere are inspired as is the stretched "Whippet Bench" by Radi Designers of 1998.

Oh La La La Lalanne! I have waxed poetic about the Lalannes in the past and it was great at long last to be confronted by their "Rhinoceros Desk" of 1966. One never gets past the scale of these pieces.

Now if you have been following this blog you know my deep love for the works of Armand Albert Rateau. While cast in bronze the delicate deer give it a lightness and almost surreal quality. One of my absolute faves!

A vignette dedicated to animals as symbols of power. Not sure how I feel about Niki de Saint-Phalle's "Pouf Serpent Noir" in such close proximity to Abbot Suger's famous eagle vase or the gothic revival lectern... oh well.

This display of 17th and 18th century furniture feet juxtaposed with "hoof" inspired modern shoes was beyond clever and made me take pause. Well played.

This 19th century Chinese kingfisher feather work headdress was amazing and vibrant. I have never seen one in such good repair and embellished to this degree. Since they are not entirely blue one wonders how many poor little kingfishers were needed to complete this piece.

Now I have long been aware of the shagreen covered geometric lamps and boxes created by Clement Rousseau but I have never seen a clock. Who knew this form existed but I am so glad it does.

Very skillful use of contrasting shagreen tints to further heighten the faceted surface.

I leave you with this image. Only the Musée des Arts Décoratifs would have an 18th century woven silk coat for a pet monkey. The only thing that I can imagine is that it clearly did not get much use. This is merely a sampling, you must see the show before it closes at the end of November 2011.

NYC Design Sale Wrap-Up

I am not one to be smug, perish the thought, but I was pleasantly surprised to see my predictions realized. Unfortunately, both the Rateau screen and the Normandie panels crashed and burned when they hit the auction block last week. The Normandie panels were clearly too expensive and unrelated to make a cohesive offering, but the Rateau Screen was another story altogether... I previewed the sales and the screen left me dumbfounded. It was massive, definitely one of those cases where you need to focus in on the published dimensions as it was nearly 15 feet tall. The quality was unmatched for sure and it had sufficient age and patina making its authenticity above reproach. Too bad the deeper history was not known. If it could have been tied to a boldface name like Jeanne Lanvin it very likely would have sold. There is no doubt in my mind that it will sell discreetly via an after sale offer and it will likely turn up again restored to its former glory. The most expensive lot of the week was sold at Christie's. The lot in question was the exceptional Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann "Lasalle" commode that knocked-down for an astonishing $614,000 (with premium) against an estimate of $150,000-200,000. To blow through an estimate to this degree it definitely went to a private individual who was competing against other deep-pocketed collectors.
It is impressive for sure, but it was a bit more sun faded in person with a slightly greenish cast that is just faintly evident in the catalogue illustration. That however did not seem to matter, as I have said before, if the YSL and Dray sales taught us anything it is that rare top-tier art deco works are almost infallible at auction these days. The travesty of the week was the Lalanne zoomorphic bar that tanked at Christie's. Like the Rateau screen the catalogue did not convey the sheer monumentality of the work. With the explosive Lalanne results achieved this past December I thought for sure this devilishly clever bar would find a home, alas no...

Perhaps at $500,000-700,000 the price was just too steep. I for one thought it would fly at that price, pun intended...

La la la Lalanne!: Recap

One of the top Lalanne lots on the street in Rockefeller Center awaiting the trek to the warehouse

Ok, I know I have been beating a dead horse (elk, rabbit, hen, hippo...) with my doubts regarding Christie's Design sale offering 52 lots by the whimsical Lalannes. Well the results were explosive to say the least with a few lots reaching ten times the low estimate. All but two of the lots failed to find buyers contrary to what ArtInfo published after the sale. The two highest lots knocked down at $400,000 ($482,500 with premium) each against considerably lower estimates. They were a dramatic crocodile settee (est. $100,000-150,000) and a ginko coffee table (est. $40,000-60,000).

The auction room was abuzz with prospective buyers and the phone banks were full of Christie's staff bidding in many languages. With the wane of interest in works by Marc Newson, George Nakashima, Zaha Hadid, Ron Arad etc. it seems that the Lalannes are the "it" artists to collect and speculate upon at the moment. Surprisingly, amongst the bidders in the room was real estate enfant terrible Michael Shvo. He and his entourage managed to snap-up two sculptures amidst heavy bidding.

Offering so many lots by one artist is a calculated risk that definitely paid off for Christie's. Art world cognocenti are saying that the single owner portion of the Lalanne run came from a gallery's stock which is usually a disastrous proposition, but in this case not so.....not by a long shot.

As a post script it is very telling that the final lot of the sale the Voronoi Shelf by Marc Newson knocked down at $125,000 ($152,500 with premium), shy of its $150,000-200,000 estimate. The buyer was the sole bidder participating via telephone and bidding against the reserve, ouch.

Christie's 20th Century Design

Well, as I noted in a previous post it is quite the Lalanne affair over at Christie's this December. However, the relative scale of the pieces does not make them overbearing and it was impressive to be able to compare so many designs under one roof. As I suspected the bulk of the 52 Lalanne lots come from a single collection. I am still not totally convinced that this flood of material all at once will bode well for the Lalanne market.

One unexpected surprise was a rather organic bookcase by Marc Newson. While I do feel his works have been overexposed at auction this is a very compelling piece. Once again the artist has pushed the envelope, utilizing technology to bring a traditional material to a new level. The Voronoi Shelf #1 is hewn from a single monumental slab of marble in an organic and cellular arrangement. The work was conceived and exhibited in an edition of 8 at Gagosian in 2006. There was quite a buzz at the time and the edition evidently sold out. We will have to wait and see if the rarity and deliciousness of this recent work will be enough to reach the $150,000-200,000 estimate.

Marc Newson, Voronoi Shelf (#1 of 8), white carrara marble, 2006

La La La Lalanne!

Wow kids, Christie's December 8th 2009 Twentieth Century Design sale really jumped on the Claude and Francois Xavier-Lalanne train full throttle. I am anxious to see what the major dealers and protectors of the Lalanne market think about so many of these surreal and quirky sculptural confections hitting the market all at once. How many do you ask? 10, 20, 30.....try 52! Nearly a third of their entire various owners sale. Perhaps they are still feeling the rush of the Lalanne frenzy experienced during the YSL sale last winter. Alas, my catalogue has not arrived, so I am anxious to see if it is a single owner collection, that would explain things to a degree. Still, to my eye it seems like market saturation during an already soft period, but who knows, we will have to wait and see when the gavel falls. See their entire sale here.