Nonetheless, FIAC remains hugely popular with the public – the attendance of 72,000 was slightly up on last year, despite the small bomb that forced a temporary evacuation on October 10 – and the organisers reported a “mood of general satisfaction” among participants reflecting a “degree of dynamism in contrast with current talk about a sluggish French market”.
Although the 175 galleries varied widely in standard and in the amount of business done, a number had a very successful time. Patrice Trigano sold four large 2003 works by Chu The-Chun for €105,000 (£74,000) apiece. Claude Bernard, also of Paris, sold 15 works in all, including a large work by Gao Xingjian to a Luxembourg collector for €40,000 (£28,000).
Oriental artists were in consistent demand. Pièce Unique of Paris sold eight small oils-on-board by Japan’s Yayoi Kusama, while London’s Chinese Contemporary gallery posted brisk sales for digital photographs by Hory Hoo, produced in editions of 12-15. Chinese artist Yang Fudong of ShanghArt of Shanghai, meanwhile, scooped the fair’s Video Award.
Several galleries opted for one-man shows. That at Marlborough – where five of the large oil compositions by Zao Wou-Ki, three dated 2003, sold for up to €700,000 (£490,000), along with two ink compositions worth around €20,000 (£14,000) – was among the most successful in financial terms, while Louis Carré & Cie of Paris earned a succès d’estime with their show of 1960s canvases by Haïtian-born Hervé Télémaque. They sold half-a-dozen, plus a handful of his more recent works.
Gimpel Fils of London offered 16 recent works by Louis Le Brocquy for over £100,000 apiece.
Like Zao Wou-Ki, Yan Pei Ming is a Chinese-born artist based in France and at Pierre Huber four of his works sold for around €20,000 (£14,000) apiece.
Art & Public of Geneva sold works by Gerhard Richter and Jean-Michel Basquiat for over £700,000 each, and a work by Richard Prince for €350,000 (£250,000), while Galerie 1900-2000 of Paris sold 40 pictures for prices up to €100,000 (£70,000).
Right: at Paris Fiac the dealers Louis Carré & Cie of Paris earned an undoubted succès d’estime with their show of 1960s canvases by Haïtian-born Hervé Télémaque.
There was, however, commercial as well as critical success for the show
and among the half dozen sales of Télémaque’s work was this one entitled Olympia dated c.1964 which sold at around €80,000 (£56,350)
The East helps Paris take on Western Rivals
PARIS FIAC, the main fair in the French capital for Contemporary art, took place from October 9-13 at the Porte de Versailles. FIAC has lost ground in recent years to Art Basel and its recent Miami offshoot, and the launch of the London Frieze fair has taken more international galleries away from it this year.
