Andre Derain's Arbres à Collioure to be Sold at Sotheby's London on June 22nd

Sotheby's announced the sale of a group of works whose story must surely rank among the most compelling in art market history. The works, a long-lost treasure trove of paintings, prints, books and drawings by key avant-garde artists of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, belonged to Ambroise Vollard, the legendary Parisian art dealer who played a pivotal role in the development of the Impressionist and Modern Art market: the artists he represented ranged from Renoir to Van Gogh and from Cézanne to Picasso and the Fauves. In promoting them, he created the collecting field of Impressionist & Modern art as we know it today. His contribution to the development of Modern art in particular is perhaps
unparalleled.
The extraordinary trove of treasures was discovered in 1979 in a bank vault at the Société Générale in Paris. The works had been deposited there during 1939, soon after Vollard's death, by Erich Slomovic, a young Yugoslav and associate of Vollard to whom the dealer had consigned the works. Soon after depositing the works, Slomovic fled to Yugoslavia where he died at the hands of the Nazis at the end of 1942. As a result, the contents of the vault remained untouched for 40 years. On 21st March 1979, the bank was permitted under French law to open the vault and to sell any contents of value in order to recoup some 40 years of unpaid storage fees. As a result, the collection was consigned for a sale to be held at Hotel Drouot in Paris in March 1981. The announcement of the sale, however, was swiftly followed by legal challenges as a result of which the sale was cancelled. Those challenges now finally resolved, the works will now be sold by agreement among the legal beneficiaries of the Vollard Estate and will finally make their long-anticipated appearance on the market at Sotheby's sales in London and in Paris in June.
At the core of the collection is Arbres à Collioure, one of the finest and most striking works by André Derain ever to come to auction (est: £9-14 million/ €10-15 million). Executed in 1905 in the coastal town of Collioure in the South of France where Derain and Matisse spent the
summer working together, this painting marks the pinnacle of Derain's Fauve style. The canvases they produced during this period are noted for the extremely vibrant palette which had been inspired by the bright Mediterranean environment. Derain's views of Collioure produced during the summer of 1905 not only represent the pinnacle of the Fauve movement, but also a milestone in the development of 20th Century art.
The Second group of works to be Sold at Sotheby's Paris on June 29th includes a range of oils, watercolours, drawings, livres d'artiste and prints by artists with whom Vollard had worked during his long distinguished career. A selection of prints and monotypes by artists of his circle, such as Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Renoir, Mary Cassatt and Picasso, reflects the art dealer's passionate interest in graphic arts and print publishing.

Paul Cézanne's Portrait d'Emile Zola, 1862-64 courtesy of Sotheby's

Key works among the highlights of the group to be sold are Paul Cézanne's historic oil Portrait d'Emile Zola, painted circa 1862-64 (illustrated left, est: €500,000-800,000); Picasso's celebrated 1904 etching Le Repas
frugal (€250,000-400,000); and a monotype by Edgar Degas, La Fête de la patronne, circa 1878-79 (€200,000-300,000). The sale, is estimated to realise a sum in the region of €3 million (£2.6 million).

Published 30.04.2010