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Ginette et Alain Lesieutre, Collection Privée

Sotheby's and Piasa are pleased to announce the sale of the private collection of Ginette and Alain Lesieutre on 29 June 2017 at Sotheby's in Paris.

Alain Lesieutre belonged to the generation who pioneered Art Nouveau and Art Deco, periods that had previously only interested a small number of dedicated aesthetes. He was one of the influential visionary figures who documented the history of these collecting categories in the 1970s, contributing to the rediscovery of many artist. Alain Lesieutre's contribution to this effort includedThe Spirit and Splendour of Art Deco, published in 1974.

Self-taught, gifted, and possessing exceptional taste, he became a dealer in the 1960s, going on to set several world records with the pieces he selected. Some of these have since been established as historical works, like the lacquer and eggshell "Portrait of Madame Agnès" commissioned from Jean Dunand by the famous hat designer in 1926, and the "Maharajah" chaise longue 'on skis’ designed by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann in 1929.

The collection consists of art works chosen by them, carefully kept by Ginette Lesieutre in their Paris apartment until her death last year. It is dedicated to some of the most important artists of their time: Rembrandt Bugatti, Gustave Miklos (an artist singled out by Jacques Doucet, the sale of whose magnificent collection in 1972 set a new benchmark for the Art Deco works in France), Jules Dalou and Antoine-Louis Barye. In the modern art section, the sale features leading names from the Nabi movement – Paul Sérusier, Emile Bernard and Maurice Denis – together with an important group of gouaches by Léonard Foujita from 1917 and 1918.