Onno van Seggelen Fine Arts from Rotterdam sold this watercolour of a mallow leaf by Albertus Jonas Brandt which was priced between €15,000-25,000. The 13¾x 11in (35 x 28cm) work is signed AJ Brandt in pencil and ink on the reverse and is inscribed Malva Blad.
Representatives from the major US museums including those in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington, Minneapolis and Los Angeles were among the visitors to the Salon du Dessin.
The specialist Paris fair for drawings from Old Master to Modern works closed its doors on May 23 for its 30th edition.
There were 2500 people attending the opening for this latest edition, which had been moved from its traditional early spring date to the second half of May and, as is usually the case, sales were made right from the start.
Jacques-Louis David ink drawing, 6 x 7½in (15.5 x 19.5cm), sold by Benjamin Peronnet at the Salon du Dessin, priced at over €100,000.
Benjamin Peronnet from Paris sold six pieces at the opening – three of which went to American museums, including Jacques Louis David’s (1784-1825) ink drawing of heads of a young woman and a satyr at over €100,000.
Early successes included a brown wash on paper of a panoramic landscape of the Roman Campagna by Claude Lorrain (1600-82) sold by de Bayser gallery at €600,000.
Galerie de Bayser sold this landscape of the Roman Campagna in ink and wash on prepared pink paper by Claude Lorrain priced at €600,000.
The Michel Descours Gallery from Paris put on a display of work by the Lyon artist Antoine Berjon (1754-1843) and at the opening sold two of his works depicting a draped figure for €45,000 apiece.
The Michel Descours Gallery, presented a display of works by the Lyon artist Antoine Berjon. Among the sales was this 15 x 9in (38 x23cm) pen, ink and wash study of a draped figure signed Berjon lower right, which was priced at €45,000.
Overseas collectors
Martin Moeller from Hamburg noted the return to the Salon of numerous Swiss and German collectors. The dealer sold a dozen drawings, such as a pencil on paper portrait by Adolf von Menzel (1815-1905) of a young woman in a low-cut dress that had remained in the same family since its creation in 1888, for more than €150,000.
Other sales included Luca Cambiaso’s (1527-85) pen and brown ink study of two animated figures in movement priced at €32,000, sold by New York gallery WM Brady & Co.
Luca Cambiaso’s 5 x 4in (12.5 x 10cm) pen, ink and wash study of two animated figures priced at €32,000 was a sale for WM Brady & Co.
Image: WM Brady & Co, New York
Jean-Luc Baroni & Marty de Cambiaire (London/Paris) sold a 15¾ x 18¾in (40 x 47.5cm) red chalk drawing of a crocodile by François Boucher (1703-77) that is a preparatory study for La Chasse au Crocodile in the Musée de Picardie in Amiens.
It went to an American buyer.
Onno van Seggelen Fine Arts from Rotterdam sold several drawings to the Custodia Foundation including a study of a mallow leaf (above, top) by Albertus Jonas Brandt (1788-1821) and a study of a military camp by Peter van Bloemen (1657-1720). The two drawings were offered between €15,000 and €25,000 each.
Among the Modern works in the Salon, opening sales for Galerie de la Présidence from Paris included a red chalk drawing by Aristide Maillol (1861-1944) of a nude seen from behind which went to a European collector for €25,000 and Odalisque avec damier, a 1928 pencil and ink drawing by Henri Matisse (1869-1954).
Loeve & Co from Paris sold a work by the German artist Hannah Höch (1889-1978) for €35,000 to a French collector at the opening while new exhibitor Louis & Sack, a Paris gallery specialising in Japanese artists from the second School of Paris, sold works by Key Sato, Toshimitsu Imai and Shigeo Shinjo.
Contemporary focus
Drawing Now, the fair devoted to Contemporary drawing, had, like the Salon du Dessin, moved its dates from early to late spring this year.
It too generated a strong return from collectors and institutions, both French and international, for its 15th staging from May 19-22 at the Carreau du Temple where 72 galleries were taking part.
