On 31st May, an extraordinary auction was held for the benefit of the Institut Pasteur. It qualifies as a special event as we know almost nothing about the collector who owned the works and objects that went under the hammer.
Romain Nouel, an auctioneer at Daguerre, discusses the discovery of a collection that is as mysterious as it is remarkable, with further sales to take place in September.
Romain Nouel is quite clear. In the life of an expert auctioneer, this is something that will probably only happen once. Summoned by the Institut Pasteur, who had just been bequeathed a Parisian apartment near the Porte Dauphine in Paris, he still had no idea that he was about to experience one of the most astonishing and exciting days of his professional life. “I opened the door and walked in. And then, I was transfixed,” he remembers. “Everything was very confused; I was faced with an obscure jumble of objects. I struggled to work out what might be of interest in such a cluttered space.” However, several thousand objects, from every source and of every value, would be found. Before long, he realised that there were a number of objects of value here, and then announced that the total could reach 100,000 euros, “which was already a large sum for an inheritance of this type left to the Institut Pasteur.” In actual fact, the eight successive sales – most of which are yet to take place – are expected to make “an overall total of between two and two and a half million euros,” excluding the value of the apartment.
A major task then began; firstly, to empty the apartment of clutter with no value. “At that moment, I became a sort of orchestra conductor, approaching the apartment item by item, establishing an overall working methodology to enable us to make progress,” the Daguerre auctioneer observes. He would call in ten or so experts – each specialising in a particular period or type of object – to assist him. They would find paintings of various styles, sculptures, plasters, studies, 400 folders of drawings, 800 paintings and 20,000 sheets (drawings, prints, photos). Estimates ranged from 5 euros to over 500,000 per item. They included a canvas, L’épave by Jean-Léon Gérôme, whose whereabouts had been unknown since its last exhibition in 1904. It was sold during the first sale of the collection – on 31st May at the Hôtel Drouot – for 546,000 euros. Also included were works by Sérusier, Mucha, Lacoste, de Feure, Devambez and others.
What do we know about this collector? He or she seems to have worked for a time at the Louvre antique dealers, in the 1970s and 1980s, before dying alone with no relatives. The works were not being displayed at home. For lack of space, the paintings were placed on the floor. “This is someone who seems to have accumulated these objects throughout their life, in line with, I would say, the tastes of their time,” Romain Nouel speculates. Through this collection, we can sense an affinity for a certain culture that was valued by the provincial petty bourgeoisie in the later half of the 20th century.” Cultivated people, whose tastes link them to a classical culture, “with a penchant that I would describe as intellectual.” Here we find the work that was appreciated by such collectors, including many artists from the 18th and 19th centuries, who today are relatively obscure. “The collector was picking up these pieces, probably from the Saint-Ouen flea market, at a time when the Musée d’Orsay collections were being built, in the 1970s. This private collection followed a similar trajectory, but with a constant striving for quality and a desire to document the pieces that had been acquired.” And over time, the success of the Musée d’Orsay gradually played a role in restoring a certain shine to the acquisitions of this most secretive collector. “The Gérôme painting would have been very difficult to sell 30 or 40 years ago; that is, at the time when it was acquired by our collector,” explains Romain Nouel. “Today, its value has risen again.” And to what heights!
Romain Nouel is still marked by this experience; the discovery, the organised sorting, the discussions with the experts. Two objects particularly moved him. The first was a simple sardine can “that we might have thrown away if we hadn’t been paying attention,” notes the expert. It was lying on a bed, among clothes and books. In fact, it was an invitation to the opening of an exhibition in a gallery. “The card had been inserted inside the can, which you had to open to gain access to it.” This small object clearly indicates the careful nature of the sorting we had to carry out.”
A second object also captured his attention. “It was a drawing by Alexandre Iacovleff, an artist from the 1920s whose work I admire. He took part in the two “expeditions” organised by the Citroën automobile manufacturer and Georges-Marie Haardt: the “Black Expedition” (1924-25) and the “Yellow Expedition” (1931-32). In a box of drawings, among dozens of others, I found a portrait of a Black woman that immediately appealed to me. I can still remember my excitement when I removed it from its cover, into which it had been slipped along with so many other drawings.” New sales, organised by type of work, will be held from 20th-25th September at the Hôtel Drouot (9 rue Drouot, Paris 9) to liquidate this succession of surprises on behalf of the Institut Pasteur.
