pas de prix de réserve
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the surrealist, avant-garde, and Dadaist movements; and one of the most influential figures in early 20th-century art as a whole. The National Observer suggested that, “of the artistic generation whose daring gave birth to Twentieth Century Art, Cocteau came closest to being a Renaissance man.”
Jean Fautrier was a French painter and sculptor associated with the Art Informel and Tachisme movements. He initially studied architecture before turning to painting in the early 1920s.
Fautrier's early work was influenced by Cubism and Surrealism, but he eventually developed a more abstract style characterized by thick impasto and expressive brushwork. He often used unconventional materials, such as asphalt, sand, and tar, to create textured surfaces that conveyed a sense of materiality.
During World War II, Fautrier was active in the French Resistance and went into hiding to avoid arrest by the Nazis. His experiences during the war had a profound impact on his work, which became darker and more introspective. He began to create what he called "Hostage" paintings, which depicted anonymous faces and figures that were both haunting and vulnerable.
After the war, Fautrier continued to explore themes of violence, trauma, and decay in his art. He created a series of "Otages" (Hostages) sculptures that were made from casts of human limbs and torsos. These works were highly controversial and provoked strong reactions from critics and the public alike.
Fautrier's influence on the development of Art Informel and Tachisme was significant, and he is regarded as one of the key figures of the movement. His work is represented in many major museums and collections around the world, including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
Gustave Caillebotte was a French Impressionist painter, collector, patron of art and impresario.
Caillebotte was born into a noble and wealthy family, educated as an engineer and lawyer, but became interested in painting and studied at the Paris School of Fine Arts. In 1874 he met Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet and presented his work at Impressionist exhibitions. Over the next six years, Caillebotte became the chief organizer, promoter and financial sponsor of Impressionist exhibitions, and used his fortune to purchase works by other Impressionists, notably Monet, Renoir, Camille Pissarro, Paul Cézanne, Edgar Degas, Alfred Sisley and Berthe Morisot.
Caillebotte bequeathed his collection of paintings to the state, some of which later formed the basis of the Impressionist collection at the Musée d'Orsay.
In his paintings, Caillebotte combined in a unique synthesis of academic, realistic and impressionist styles. He painted many family scenes, interiors and landscapes, as well as domestic scenes and streets of Paris.
Léon-Paul Fargue was a French poet and novelist, journalist and publicist.
Léon-Paul studied at the Lycée Henry IV in Paris and as a young man became a member of the Symbolist circle associated with Le Mercure de France. His first collection of poems was published in 1912 and reprinted in 1918. After 1930, Fargue practiced journalism almost exclusively, writing newspaper columns and lyrical essays on Parisian life.
Léon Fargue's work encompasses various literary movements, being a kind of bridge from Symbolism to Surrealism. His work has also been associated with the Dadaists and the Cubists, but he followed his own path throughout his life. Fargue was among the founders of the Nouvelle Revue Française in 1912 and participated in the first issue of the surrealist journal Literature in 1919, and was one of the leaders of the experimental journal Commerce in the 1920s. Farg was friends with many writers, artists and composers, including Pablo Picasso and Igor Stravinsky.
In 1937, Léon-Paul Fargue was elected a member of the Académie Mallarmé, and in 1946 he won the Grand Poet Laureate of Paris.