Still-life by Henri Hayden, Nature morte avec bouteille de porto, priced in the region of €500,000 by Stern Pissarro Gallery.
June 19-26 sees the return of BRAFA Art Fair in face-to-face form after last year’s virtual edition. The fair has moved this year from its traditional timing in late January/early February to an early summer staging.
And it has also changed its venue, moving from the Tour & Taxis site to Brussels Expo on the Heysel plateau which will henceforth be its new location.
For this 67th edition 155 galleries from 15 different countries will be showing a wide-ranging selection of art across many disciplines spanning antiquities to contemporary works.
This year regular exhibitors at the fair are joined by 15 newcomers from Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, the UK, Luxembourg, France and Austria.
Alongside BRAFA, two other events are taking place in Brussels galleries in June centred particularly around the Sablon district of the city.
BRUNEAF, the tribal art event, holds its 2022 edition from June 15- 19. It features around 25 specialists in the field, a mix of resident and guest dealers from Europe and the US, who will be exhibiting in the galleries around the Sablon.
Civilisations Brussels Art Fair is a newer, broader gallery-based initiative covering the fields of Asian, Oriental and tribal art and will take place from June 16-19 in and around the Sablon district featuring around a dozen dealers from Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Henri Hayden still-life
Around a dozen galleries from the UK will be standing at this year’s BRAFA, among them the Stern Pissarro Gallery from London which specialises in Modern and Contemporary art.
Among the works it will be taking to the fair will be this still-life by the Warsaw-born, Paris-based artist Henri Hayden (1883-1970), Nature morte avec bouteille de porto (pictured top).
The 3ft 3in x 2ft 2in (1m x 65cm) oil on canvas, which is signed Hayden and dated 1921 lower right, has a provenance to a private collection, Paris; Sotheby’s New York, November 5, 1982; the Bernstein Galleries, New York; the Maxwell Davidson Gallery, New York, and a private collection, Boston.
The work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity from Laurence Le Cieux and will be priced in the region of €500,000.
Laurens bronzes
Henri Laurens bronze Femme couchée a la draperie priced in the region of €140,000-160,000 by Univers du Bronze.
The Paris gallery Univers du Bronze is one of BRAFA’s longstanding exhibitors, having shown at the fair for 15 years.
For this edition it will be presenting a selection of works by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, (Messieurs Richarme and Poletti of the gallery are the authors of Carpeaux’s catalogue raisonné and monographs on the artist).
Among the other works it will display at BRAFA will be two bronzes by Henri Laurens (1885-1954) one of which titled Femme couchée a la draperie is pictured above. The 13¼in (34cm) long x 5in (13cm) high patinated bronze from c.1925-30 is monogrammed HL and Alexis Rudier Fondeur Paris for the foundry.
It comes with a provenance by descent from the collection of Georges and Suzanne Ramié and is priced in the region of €140,000-160,000.
Balearic coast by Belgian Symbolist
Painting of the Balearic coast by William Degouve de Nuncques priced at around €115,000 by Rueb Modern and Contemporary Art.
Rueb Modern and Contemporary Art from Amsterdam is showing this painting of the Balearic coast (Majorca, Cala San Vicente) by the Belgian Symbolist William Degouve de Nuncques (1867-1935) at BRAFA.
The 8 x 18½in (20 x 47cm) oil on panel, which is signed with initials and dated 00, has a provenance to Suzanne Degouve de Nuncques (the artist’s widow); by descent from the above to the previous owner, the grandson of A de Gerlache, the polar explorer, Suzanne’s first husband.
The painting, which now has a Louis XIII frame, is priced at around €115,000.
Edo armour
Japanese 18th century honkozane armour priced at €40,000 by Kitsune Japanese Art.
Arie Vos of Kitsune Japanese Art in Brussels is one of the founder members of Civilisations. Among the works he will be showing at the event will be this 18th century honkozane armour.
Features include a 62-plate helmet by Nagamichi, one of the most desired masters of the Edo period, and a red-lacquered mempo (face protection) with a bristle moustache and gilt teeth. It is priced at €40,000.
Meditational deity
Tibetan figure of the meditational deity Vajra Nairatmya priced at $190,000 by the Asian Arts Company.
Carlo Christi of the Asian Arts Company is also a founding member of Civilisations and will be showing this 10½in (27cm) high Tibetan figure of the meditational deity Vajra Nairatmya.
The gilt-metal sculpture, which is dated to the 14th century, depicts the deity trampling a supine figure underfoot. It was formerly in the Philip Goldman collection (UK), the Edwin and Cherie Silver collection (US) and a private collection in the EU. It is priced at $190,000.
