Result
IMPRESSIONIST & MODERN ART, AN ACCLAIMED WORK BY MAX ERNST
A bidding spree for Fikret Moualla, the rediscovery of a work by Max Ernst & A tribute to Baya


On 20 April 2023, half a dozen works by Baya paid tribute to this prodigious artist, who gave her first exhibition at the age of just 16, while a work by Fikret Moualla rocketed to €52,000* at Aguttes. The Impressionist and Modern Art sale once again featured a number of works that were rare on the market, including L'Angoisse du Juif, painted by Ernst at the Camp des Milles, and a bronze by Félix Desruelles.

"The sale was a resounding success, with over 70% of the lots sold and a myriad of estimates smashed. Fikret Moualla's gouache (lot 74), estimated at €15,000/20,000, sold for €52,000, while Max Ernst's mixed-media work from June 1940 (lot 50) sold for up to €68,200 on the same estimate. The tribute to "Baya, une artiste pionnière" (Baya, a pioneering artist) was a sell-out, with 100% of the works sold, confirming Aguttes' leading position in this signature, which has just been honoured with a retrospective at the Institut du Monde Arabe. Finally, La Paix au pays noir by Félix Desruelles, a previously unseen polychrome bronze reduction of the Auchel (62) war memorial, one of the department's favourites, sold for €15,600.
Pierre-Alban Vinquant, Expert and Director of the Impressionist & Modern Art Department

Impressionist & Modern Art
Top 5* of the sale
1 - Lot 89 - BERNARD BUFFET (1928-1999), Trees by the Pond, 1964 - €78 000
2 - Lot 50 - MAX ERNST (1891-1976), Jewish Anguish, 1940 - €70 200
3 - Lot 74 - FIKRET MOUALLA (1903-1967), Children and a Balloon Seller, 1959 - €52,000
4 - Lot 38 - BRAM VAN VELDE (1895-1981), Still life - €45,500
5 - Lot 42 - ANDRÉ LHOTE (1885-1962), Cubist seated nude, circa 1920 - €41 600




Lot 74 - FIKRET MOUALLA (1903-1967)
Children and a balloon seller, 1959
Gouache on paper Signed and dated '[19]59' lower left
58 x 65 cm
PROVENANCE
- Sale, Modern and Contemporary Paintings, Besch, Cannes, 15 August 2015, lot 150
- Private collection, France (acquired in previous sale)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Marc Ottavi and Kerem Topuz, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre de Fikret Moualla, 1903 - 1967, Tome 1, Paris: Marc Ottavi expertise, 2009, described and reproduced under n°2032, p. 423
Sold for €52,000



Among the spectacular bids...
Of particular note was Fikret Moualla's Enfants et vendeur de ballons (lot 74), which fetched €52,000, tripling its low estimate. Bram van Velde's Nature morte (lot 38) was another contender, fetching €45,500, more than three times its low estimate.



Lot 38 - BRAM VAN VELDE (1895-1981)
Still life
Oil on canvas
Signed upper left (Contrasting)
100 x 81 cm
EXHIBITIONS
- A Museum in the Making: The Stephane Janssen Collection of Contemporary European and American Art, 26 April - 4 August 1991
- Bram van Velde, Valencia, Julio González Centre, 6 February - 18 March 1990
- Bram van Velde, Paris, Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Pompidou, 19 October 1989 - 1 January 1990 - Bram van Velde, Turin, Galleria civica d'arte moderna, November - December 1966
PROVENANCE
- Galerie Jan Krugier, Geneva, no. 273
- Possibly: Simon Spierer Collection, Geneva
- Stephane M. Janssen Collection, Carefree (USA)
- Galerie Borzo, Bois-le-Duc (Netherlands)
- Private collection, France (acquired from the latter in 1999)
Sold for €45,500


Around one hundred works - paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, illustrated books, carpets and ceramics - represented virtually all the artistic movements, both avant-garde and academic but generally figurative, that have marked artistic creation from the end of the 19th century to the present day. Arbres près de l'étang by Bernard Buffet (lot 89) fetched €78,000, while Nu assis cubiste by André Lhote (lot 42) sold for €41,600. Porquerolles, pinède de la plage d'Argent, a gouache by Jean-Francis Auburtin (lot 21) also attracted attention, fetching €9,750.


A work by Max Ernst made at Camp des Milles
This small-format work on paper by Max Ernst (lot 50) fetched €70,200 and joined the collections of a major institution: painted at the Camp des Milles in June 1940, this oil on paper was reproduced in André Fontaine's Le Camp d'étrangers des Milles, a reference publication on the subject.


Lot 50 -MAX ERNST (1891-1976)
The Jew's Anguish, 1940
Oil on paper mounted on card
Signed lower right
18 x 20.5 cm
A certificate from Mr Jürgen Pech, dated 19 February 2023, will be given to the buyer.
Provenance
Private collection, France (given by the artist, then by descent)
Bibliography
André Fontaine, Le Camp d'étrangers des Milles, 1939-1943, Édisud, Aix-en-Provence: 1989, pp.196-198
Sold for €70,200




Tribute to Baya
The half-dozen gouaches by Baya (lots 75 - 80), covering the period from the late 1960s to the 1990s, fetched €142,847 with a low estimate of €81,000. This set provoked lively bidding battles between the auction room, the telephone and the Internet, with each work exceeding its estimate and finding a buyer. 33,800 for Femme au luth et à l'oiseau (lot 75)! The gouaches by this icon of Algerian painting feature pure, delicate, unapologetic lines, with female figures, sometimes at the water's edge, in settings of lush, imaginary vegetation. Spotted by Aimé Maeght, this often enchanting artist had her first solo exhibition in Paris at the age of just 16, and André Breton wrote the preface to the catalogue.




Lot 75- BAYA (1931-1998)
Woman with lute and bird, 1968
Gouache on paper
Signed and dated '[19]68' lower left
Signed a second time on the back
100 x 101 cm
Provenance
- Private collection, France (acquired from the artist)
- Acquired from the artist
Sold for €33,800



15,600 for an unpublished bronze by Félix Desruelles (1865-1943)
Among the remarkable finds in this sale was La Paix au pays noir (lot 33), a polychrome bronze group by Félix Desruelles, cast in lost-wax by Leblanc-Barbedienne & fils in 1927. It is a scale model of the war memorial of the same name, inaugurated on 13 May 1928 in Auchel and listed in the Inventaire supplémentaire des monuments historiques. Although it could have been a one-off, reserved for the sculptor's family or a prominent Auchel figure, since no other castings are known to exist in either public or private hands, this sculpture fetched €15,600.





Lot 33- FÉLIX DESRUELLES (1865-1943)
Peace in the Black Country, 1927
Bronze with polychrome patina
Signed and dated 'MCMXXVII' with the foundry stamp 'Leblanc-Barbedienne & fils/Cire perdue/Paris' on the terrace
63 x 77 x 22 cm
Provenance
Private collection, Belgium (by descent)
Sold for €15,600


DEMANDER UNE EXPERTISE

Pierre-Alban Vinquant
Expert et Directeur du département Art impressionniste & moderne
+33 1 47 45 08 20 - vinquant@aguttes.com

Aguttes - 164 bis avenue Charles-de-Gaulle - Neuilly-sur-Seine