This June, Sotheby’s will present Of Form and Color: Art and Design from the Emmanuel de Bayser Collection, offered in a dedicated sale during Design Week in New York. Drawn from de Bayser’s residences in Paris and Berlin, the collection brings together historic design and contemporary art assembled over decades, led by an exceptional group of works by the French ceramicist Georges Jouve.
Born into a family long associated with the arts, including the Galerie de Bayser in Paris founded by his grandfather, de Bayser developed an eye attuned to the dialogue between works across periods. In 2006 he opened the concept store The Square Berlin on the Gendarmenmarkt. His engagement with ceramics began, characteristically, with necessity rather than intention, and has yielded one of the most exceptional private holdings of Jouve’s work assembled in recent decades, comprising approximately one hundred works across both residences, alongside pieces by ceramicists André Borderie, Suzanne Ramié and Denise Gatard.
Among the Jouve highlights are a large ceramic sculpture circa 1958 (est. $70,000 to $100,000), whose saturated black glaze places it in dialogue with contemporaries such as Henry Moore and Hans Arp; the Bonbonne vase (est. $60,000 to $80,000) and the Requin (est. $60,000 to $80,000), both in black glazed ceramic; a pair of large Cylindre table lamps, one from each residence, that descended from the Jouve family (est. $50,000 to $70,000); and a pair of Anneau table lamps (est. $35,000 to $55,000).
The sale also features Alberto Giacometti’s functional works, including a pair of Étoile table lamps (est. $220,000 to $280,000) and an Étoile floor lamp (est. $175,000 to $225,000) in patinated bronze. François-Xavier Lalanne’s Mouton de Pierre and Mouton Transhumant are each estimated at $250,000 to $350,000, works de Bayser has said he is most proud of, positioned in his Paris living room to appear as though they had wandered in from the neighboring Parc Monceau. Alexandre Noll’s Side Chair Mahogany is estimated at $20,000 to $30,000.
Alongside the Jouve group, the sale includes postwar French design by Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand and Jean Royère, all contemporaries of Jouve. Prouvé works include examples of his Visiteur armchair, Flavigny table and Potence wall light, offered alongside Perriand’s Nuage bookcase and Forme Libre coffee table and Royère’s Oeuf armchair and Bouquet wall sconces.
Contemporary art threads through the collection. Anish Kapoor’s Monochrome (Teal Over Matte Silver Pearl), from his series of concave mirror disks, is estimated at $250,000 to $350,000. Two early paintings by Jannis Kounellis, a defining figure of Arte Povera, are each estimated at $100,000 to $150,000. The sale also features Daniel Buren’s Cercle Coloré Vert, built from his signature vertical stripes each precisely 8.7 centimeters wide, alongside works by Günther Förg.
(Press Release)
