Art deco focus on paper pieces

COLLECTOR: Highlights of the sale include hand-painted gouache on paper by Erté and works by René Ranson and Louis Icart

An art deco auction next week boasts the strongest Works on Paper section to come on the market for more than 10 years. Some 40 lots go under the hammer, with estimates ranging from £500 sterling (€800) to £6,000.

Highlights at the Christie's London auction next Thursday, April 11th, include hand-painted gouache on paper by Romain de Tiroff Erté, gouache and watercolour designs by René Ranson and drypoint works by Louis Icart, the famous art deco etcher.

Art deco, a not-easily-defined movement described by Christie's specialist in European decorative arts Mr Daniel Gallen as "colourful and frivolous", evolved from just before the first World War and continued into the 1930s.

Five hand-painted gouache on paper works by Erté feature in the auction, obtained from the artist by the present owner, having been authenticated and annotated by Charles Spencer, organiser of the artist's first London exhibition in 1967. Spencer wrote the first book on his work, Erté, published in 1970.

A framed gouache on paper costume design by Erté, possibly for the Lido de Paris, circa 1940, 15 by 10.5 inches, is expected to fetch €3,300 to €4,100. A second costume design by the same artist, also possibly for the Lido de Paris, painted in purple and green, is estimated at €5,000 to €6,500. Meanwhile, Erté's cover design for Harper's Bazaar, circa 1935, measuring 6.5 by 5.75 inches, is estimated at £4,000 to £6,000.

Other gouache and watercolour designs reveal the sensual world and libertine nature of Parisian nightlife between the world wars of the 20th century. An interesting pair of costume designs by René Ranson, L'avion de bombardement and L'avion transatlantique, exploring the emerging military and civil aviation industry, is estimated at €3,000 to €3,600.

More than 25 drypoint works by Louis Icart exhibit major themes from the art deco period, with each lot featuring the female form. Estimates here range from €820 to €1,300 for a typical drypoint and aquatint to €3,300 to €4,900 for Mardi Gras, a circa 1936 drypoint, aquatint and pastel printed in colours, signed in crayon, with the artist's blindstamp and copyright mark.

Meanwhile, a Sotheby's London auction of 19th century German and Austrian paintings next Tuesday, April 9th, includes works by Czech, Polish, Hungarian and Bulgarian artists, with estimates ranging from £5,000 to £250,000.

German highlights include drawings by Adolph von Menzel (1815-1905); a 1847 pastel portrait of the artist's sister Emilie, his favourite model, estimated at £30,000 to £50,000, and a drawing in black chalk of a sleeping man, expected to fetch £20,000 to £30,000.

Genre painting is represented by two works by German artist Ludwig Knaus (1829-1910), The Village Prince, estimated at £60,000 to £80,000, and The Sweet Tooth, valued at £30,000 to £40,000.

Other genre pictures include Bulgarian artist Jaroslav Vesin's (1859-1915) Departure for the Hunt, which could go for £12,000 to £18,000, and an intimate portrait of Karl Radnitsky by Austrian painter Anton Romako, which carries an estimate of £6,000 to £8,000.

Meanwhile, the shirt worn by Pelé in the 1970 World Cup final between Brazil and Italy fetched £157,750 at Christie's, London, on March 27th last. Purchased by a private collector, it far exceeded its pre-sale estimate of £30,000 to £50,000.

The philatelic service of An Post has assembled a special collection to help new collectors get started. It comprises a set of 17 definitive euro stamps, four definitive first-day covers from January 1st, one set of pages for Irish euro definitive stamps, a pair of self adhesive euro definitive stamps, and an album binder and page for first day covers. Price: €75. For further information, contact Philatelic Bureau, GPO, Dublin 1.