ART NOUVEAU

ART NOUVEAU AUCTIONS

 

For 30 years, MILLON's Art Nouveau department and its specialists, experts and auctioneers have been inviting the great works of the movement to an exceptional auction. It is one of the very first auction departments dedicated to this speciality.

 

MILLON's Art Nouveau department showcases the great names of Art Nouveau: painters, sculptors, glassmakers and cabinetmakers.

 

From Gallé to Deck, Lalique to Horta, the great names rub shoulders on the pages of our sales catalogues. Prices soar thanks to the meticulous work of our teams of experts and auctioneers dedicated to this speciality.

 

 

Experts specialising in Art Nouveau in all its forms

 

At the head of the Art Nouveau auction department is a team of enthusiasts. Antonio Casciello, Director of the Department, Alexis Jacquemart and Florian Douceron, specialist clerks, showcase the works entrusted to them in catalogues that have become benchmarks. Each piece is appraised, photographed and very often accompanied by bibliographical and historical research.

 

They work with Claude-Annie Marzet, an expert on the 1900s and artistic glassware, who was behind the major Art Nouveau sales of the 1990s between France and Japan.

 

 

Art Nouveau: a total and multifaceted art form

 

Art Nouveau, so named in 1895 following the opening in Paris of Siegfried (Samuel) Bing's eponymous shop, or the Guimard style or Art nouille (a pejorative term), was an international movement that spanned the old and new continents. from 1890 onwards, it was known as Tiffany in the United States, Jugendstil in Germany, Sezessionstil in Austria, Nieuwe Kunst in the Netherlands, Stile Liberty in Italy, and so on

 

The vitality of flowers and plant forms can be found in all its forms. Art Nouveau was a movement that exploited every technique and every medium. You'll find collections of sculptures, ceramics, glassware and silverware. But you can also discover Art Nouveau through furniture, silverware and posters.

 

The great names come to mind: Emile Gallé, the Daum brothers, Hector Guimard, Théodore Deck, Louis Majorelle, Joseph Brocard, Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat, Vilmos Zsolnay, Jean Carriès, Louis-Comfort Tiffany, Agathon Léonard, Louis Chalon, André Fernand Thesmar, René Lalique, Victor Horta, Alfons Mucha. Some regularly attract million-dollar bids. Each of these artists expresses his or her art through a preferred medium and particular forms.

 

 

Auction calendar

 

For such a sought-after speciality and such high-quality works, our experts make a tough selection. To create an event and present exceptional objects, the department chooses to present a sales catalogue once a year, in the autumn. These sales, entitled "L'Europe de l'Art Nouveau" (Europe of Art Nouveau), bring together the greatest names in Art Nouveau and pieces of the highest quality.

 

These sales regularly set sales records, and many items have been pre-empted, demonstrating the almost museum-like quality of these sales. This wasthe case, for example , with avase by François Emile Décorchemont, Bouteille à décor floral, which was pre-empted at €30,000. This model, made in only three copies, is made of thick glass paste and cast using the lost-wax technique.

 

 

Our auction results

 

Our Art Nouveau auctions also produced some fine results:

 

An exceptional desk by François Rupert Carabin, which you can admire today at the Musée d'Orsay, almost doubled its estimate, selling for €55,000, while a stonewarejardinière created quite a stir. Enamelled in green and black shaded with red, and featuring a crab among seaweed and rocks, this planter, "La Mer", bore the artist's signature carved into the underside of the base.

 

A suite of four colour lithographs byAlfons Mucha sold for €23,000, despite a few holes and pitting.

 

Also sold for €24,000 was a work by Sando Apati Abt for the Vimos Zsolnay factory. This hand-pressed, moulded earthenware vase features a relief of the God Pan and a woman under a glaze of enamels and eosin glaze.

 

 

The services offered by our Art Nouveau department

 

This historic department of our auction house confirms its expertise in assisting buyers, and its team has forged close relationships with many collectors.

 

Do you own an Art Nouveau piece? Are you wondering about its value and the artist's standing? Our experts are at your disposal to offer you a free and confidential estimate.

 

Are you planning to auction some of your works? Our specialists can offer you a made-to-measure service, from appraisal to sale.