René Gaffé Sale
The Sale of the René Gaffé Tribal Art Collection:
At the Crossroads of Two Centuries
By Tamara Schild and Marion Bertin
In 2001, more than three decades after René Gaffé’s death, his collection was auction in a joint venture between Christie’s and étude Loudmer. His modern paintings were sold by Christie’s in New York, while his collection of African, Oceanic and Central American art was auctioned off by Parisian commissaires-priseurs Artus Associés and Calmels Chambre Cohen in Christie’s newly opened Parisian sale rooms under the aegis of Guy Loudmer.
The heuristic interest of this event lies in the fact that it opened up two perspectives: one on collecting and the art market of the 1920s and 1930s, the other on the evolution of the auction market at the turn of the twenty-first century. On the one hand, this collection, which combined Cubism, Surrealism and African and Oceanic art, was deeply imbued with “the spirit of the ‘founding fathers’ of the great collections,” of which it was “one of the last to be preserved in its entirety,” as expert Pierre Amrouche noted in the auction catalog. On the other hand, the collection’s dispersal in 2001 was a harbinger of the major changes that the auction market underwent resulting from French reforms opening domestic auction business to foreign competition. The timing of the sale – coinciding with the French market reforms, Loudmer’s conviction (see below), the September 11th attacks, and the trial of Alfred Taubman, the former president of Sotheby’s convicted of collusion with Christie’s – gave it exceptional media attention on both sides of the Atlantic.
The fact that the works had been kept secret for more than half a century when they came up for auction gave them the much sought-after “freshness” that arouses the enthusiasm of rediscovery and contributes so much to the attraction and success of single owner sales. In her will, Jane appointed auctioneer Guy Loudmer to supervise and organize the sale. A pioneer on the Parisian auction market in the 1980s, the latter had been caught up in one of the biggest scandals in the Hôtel Drouot’s history, known as the “Bourdon affair”, in the 1990s. His conviction in the Paris Correctional Court on September 17th 2001, which stipulated a suspended sentence of eighteen months’ imprisonment and a fine of 500.000 francs for aggravated breach of trust and forgery, made it impossible for him to serve the estate in this capacity and obliged him to limit his involvement to a consulting role. In addition, all of his fees were to be withheld to compensate for the losses of his company, which was liquidated with several tens of millions of francs in outstanding liabilities.
These circumstances led to a “disconcerting distribution of roles” at the time of the collection’s sale. The title page of the “tribal” art sale catalog read: “Auctioneers: Artus Associés (Gridel, Boscher, Flobert, Lasseron), Calmels Chambre Cohen. Experts: Pierre Amrouche, Alain de Monbrison. Sale organized by: Guy Loudmer, Marie-Laure Terrin-Amrouche. With the assistance of Christie’s.” Indicative of the changes that the market was going through, the assortment of parties to this event calls for some subtle deciphering. Initially, Guy Loudmer had chosen former collaborators, the Parisian firms Calmels Chambre Cohen and Artus Associés, to hold the sale of the Gaffé collection. Originally scheduled at the Hôtel Drouot, the auction was ultimately transferred to Christie’s at the initiative of François Pinault – owner of the firm since 1998 and a friend of Loudmer – following delays in the reform of public auctions. The house set up a joint venture between Christie’s and the Parisian auctioneers, whereby the latter sold the African and Oceanic art collection for their own account using the new Christie’s premises as the auction’s venue.
The African and Oceanic Art Sale: The First Million-Franc Milestone for Oceanic Art in France
The Oceanic objects in particular reached record prices and often fetched sums that were multiples of their high estimates. In France, it was also the first time that an auction had grossed over one million francs for Oceanic objects. A New Ireland uli figure (lot 7, estimated at 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 francs) was sold for 1.100.000 francs. The three objects from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) were acquired by a single buyer, whom several present in the auction room and on the telephone tried vigorously to outbid, with the only effect of pushing up their prices significantly. A moai moko statuette from Easter Island (lot 10, estimated at 150.000 to 200.000 francs) made nearly three times its high estimate when it sold for 580,000 francs, and a second one (lot 11, estimated at 150.000 to 200.000 francs) exceeded its estimate by even more when it reached 700,000 francs. Both of these moai moko had been purchased by Gaffé at the sale of the collections of André Breton and Paul Éluard, organized by the Bellier auction house in 1931. Finally, a third Easter Island figure, a rare moai kavakava that had belonged to André Breton (lot 9), was estimated at between 1.000.000 and 1.500.000 francs. Heinrich Schweizer described these estimates as “progressive”. Indeed, this was the third Easter Island figure of its kind to come onto the market in 2001, and although it was inferior in refinement and age to the other examples, its estimate was higher. This moai kavakava wound up reaching 3.700.000 francs among the record-setting prices for this type of objects. Its provenance, as well as the presence at the auction of many collectors of paintings who lacked thorough knowledge of values in the Oceanic art market, were factors that were put forth as explanations for the object having attained that sum.
As for the African objects, the three Fang reliquary figures obtained varied results: the first (lot 12, estimated at 2.000.000 to 3.000.000 francs) was sold within its estimate to a private American collector in the room for 2.400.000 francs; the second (lot 13) went for 1.600.000 francs, below its estimate of 2.000.000 to 3.000.000 francs, and the last (lot 14, estimated at 1.500.000 to 2.000.000 francs) made almost twice its high estimate, selling to London dealer Lance Entwistle after he had outbid several telephone contenders as well as his Brussels colleague Bernard de Grunne, who were both buying on behalf of clients. The bidding had finally come to a close at 3.700.000 francs. The auction reached its “climax” with the inlaid Kota skull from Gabon (lot 15, estimated at 200.000 to 300.000 francs), when it flirted with the symbolic two million franc mark. Of great age and rarity, and the subject of an exchange of correspondence between its former owners Paul Éluard and René Gaffé, it ultimately sold for 1,950,000 francs to a client in the room after a protracted bidding contest. A beggar monkey figure by a Baule sculptor (lot 25, estimated at 600.000 to 1.000.000 francs) with a beautiful sacrificial patina and in a very good state of conservation, made the highest price of the evening when bidding for it too climbed to 3.700.000 francs, just shy of four times its high estimate. It was however the last lot of the evening, a miniature replica of an Aztec stone stele (lot 27, estimated at 20.000 to 30.000 francs), that reached the largest multiple of its estimate at this sale when it brought 300.000 francs – fully ten times the most it had been expected to sell for.
The Gaffé Legacy
What were the consequences of the sale of René Gaffé’s collection of African and Oceanic art? Why was this sale pivotal for the history of the art market in this field and how does it illustrate the transition between the 20th and 21st centuries?
The Gaffé sale was the second in a series of four that contributed to major changes in the African and Oceanic art market between 2001 and 2006. The other three were those of the Hubert Goldet (1945-2000) collection in June/July 2001, the André Breton (1896-1966) collection in April 2003 and the Pierre (1900-1993) and Claude (1929-2018) Vérité collection in June 2006. Along with Gaffé, these men and their collections embody a settled history of the art market and a collecting style that is rooted in the 20th century. They were also the last large collections of their kind still preserved intact that have been sold at the dawn of the 21st century. Together, these landmark dispersals revived Paris’s historic centrality.
The Gaffé sale also reflected the broader transformation of the Parisian auction scene following the 2000 reform (No. 2000-642) regulating the sale of property at public auction. Auction sales, which had previously been subject to strong restrictions and a national monopoly, were liberalized and the Parisian marketplace was opened to international companies. Sotheby’s had had representative offices in Paris as early as 1967 and had been organizing sales since 2001, thanks to its cooperation with auctioneers Hervé Poulain and Rémy Le Fur. The house’s first hammer strokes came down on November 29th, 2001, symbolically delivered by Laure de Beauvau-Craon, who had committed herself to an opening up of the market in compliance with European laws relating to free competition. Christie’s, which had been established in Paris since 1968, also inaugurated its saleroom in 2001. The first hammer strokes there came down on December 5th 2001, delivered by the hand of François de Ricqlès, another important player in the Parisian marketplace, who joined the firm a few months later as vice-chairman of the board.
The early 2000s thus marked a generational and institutional shift. Christie’s and Sotheby’s gradually consolidated leadership in the trade of African and Oceanic objects, benefiting considerably from the groundwork laid by Guy Loudmer in this field since the 1970s. In January 2002, Pierre Amrouche and Alain de Monbrison, formerly experts for Parisian auction houses, both joined Christie’s as external consultants for African and Oceanic art, appointed by Maître François de Ricqlès. However, due to certain disagreements, their time at Christie’s was initially cut short: they left the house in 2003, taking with them the most important collections, at least until Pierre Amrouche’s return a decade later. Among them was the André Breton collection that was sold by Calmels Cohen in 2003, the André Lebel collection that was dispersed by his son through the same firm in 2006, and, even more importantly, the Vérité collection that was sold by Enchères Rive Gauche in 2006. These facts nuance the idea that Christie’s and Sotheby’s were completely replacing their Parisian counterparts and demonstrate the importance of local experts, dealers, and auctioneers, who had the local contacts and access to collections that the large international companies could not do without.
During the 20th century and even more so in the 21st, the sale of major private collections became a key driver of the market. Christies excelled in this area and organized the vast majority of auctions devoted to Parisian personalities, beginning with the second sale dedicated to Pierre Vérité in November 2017 (when Pierre Amrouche was once again an international consultant for the house) and the sale of the Michel Périnet collection in June 2021. In addition to François de Ricqlès who was instrumental in bringing the business to Christie’s, major Parisian dealers Alain de Monbrison, Lance Entwistle and Bernard Dulon worked together to organize this auction and the African and Oceanic objects that were sold there ultimately fetched record-setting prices.
At a time when provenances and old collections have become essential selling points in the African and Oceanic art market, has the Gaffé collection become an important pedigree? René Gaffé follows in the footsteps of other key figures in the history of collecting and in the art market of the 20th century, some of whom had owned the works sold in 2001 such as Paul Eluard and André Breton. The prices obtained for certain works of African and Oceanic art from Gaffé’s collection validate his taste as a collector. Some prices were important records for a time, including the moai kavakava (lot 9) that sold for 3.700.000 francs (€739.462 today) and was still officially the most expensive piece in the world of its kind until the mid-2010s, being in twenty-fifth place in the top auctions for Oceanic objects according to the ranking established by Artkhade. After Gaffé, some of the artworks that belonged to him once again passed into prestigious collection.
No less than three years after the sale of African and Oceanic art, on June 10, 2004, two objects from the Gaffé sale appeared again at auction in a Calmels-Cohen sale, put up for sale by the same vendor, Simon de Pury, who also resold objects from the Goldet sale: the first, a Luba caryatid stool (today, the Democratic Republic of Congo) (lot 22 of the 2001 sale, lot 40 of the 2004 sale) with no provenance, which had been sold for 1.500.000 francs (€228.673) in 2001, realized 168.465 euros. The second, a Baule monkey (today, in the Ivory Coast) (lot 25 of the 2001 sale, lot 66 in 2004), which had fetched 3.700.000 francs in 2001 (€564.061), dropped significantly in price when it made only 270.066 euros under Calmels-Cohen’s hammer. More recently, at Sotheby’s in the various owners sale of June 13th 2018, one of the three Fang reliquary heads (lot 33, estimated at between €1.000.000 and 1.500.000) that had been sold for 3.700.000 francs (€564,061) in 2001 (lot 14) sold for over €2.500.000 including premiums. Two African objects sold earlier by Gaffé were also recently offered for sale: a Fang statue (lot 156, estimated at between €600.000 to 800.000) that had been part of Paul Guillaume’s and Arman’s collections remained unsold at the Sotheby’s various owners sale of December 12th 2018; a Songye Kalebwe figure (lot 125, estimated at between €300.000 and 500.000), which passed into the collection of Jacques and Denise Schwob during Gaffé’s lifetime , sold within its estimate for €439.500 at the Christie’s autumn Arts of Africa, Oceania and Americas sale on October 30th 2018. In 2024, the moai moko from Easter Island (lot 10 of the 2001 sale) achieved €114,700 at a Bonhams and Cornette de Saint Cyr sale in Brussels (December 17th, 2024, lot 153). Lastly, one buyer can claim to have acquired a memento of the multifaceted collector René Gaffé for just €10 at an auction organized by DeBaecque in 2019 – a terracotta sculpture of a frog (lot 147). It is in the nature of a collector’s item that, however modest it may be, it preserves the memory of the person who cherished it.
Footnotes
1 We would like to extend our special thanks to Heinrich Schweizer for bringing this sale to our attention and to express our sincere gratitude to Marie-Laure Terrin-Amrouche and Pierre Amrouche who shared their personal memories of the sale. Martine Pinard gave us the golden opportunity to present the first results of our research on René Gaffé at a conference for the Détours des Mondes association on November 4th 2019.
2 Pierre Amrouche: René Gaffé, L’Ami des Arts, in: Auct. cat. New York (Christie's, November 6th, 2001): The Collection of René Gaffé. Property from the Estate of Madame René Gaffé, New York 2001, 10-15, here: 10.
3 Vincent Noce: Descente aux enchères. Les coulisses du marché de l’art, Paris 2002, here: 392-412.
4 Noce 2002, 412.
5 Heinrich Schweizer: Afrika entfaltet mystische Kräfte. Ergebnisse: Die Sammlung René Gaffé mit afrikanisch-ozeanischer Stammeskunst in Paris, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 15 December 2001, 53.
6 Judith Benhamou-Huet: Christie’s remporte une collection estimée à 350 millions de francs, in: Les Échos, [25.07.2001], URL : https://www.lesechos.fr/2001/07/christies-remporte-une-collection-estimee-a-350-millions-de-francs-723366, <30.03.2022>.
7 Heinick 2001, 55 ; Dirk Boll: Der Kampf um die Kunst. Handel und Auktionen positionieren sich am Kunstmark, PhD thesis in Art Management, Ludwigsburg 2004, here: 145.
8 Marion Bertin: Circulations et valeurs des objets océaniens dans les collections privées et publiques (1980-2020), PhD thesis in Anthropology and Art History, La Rochelle / Paris 2021, here: 230.
9 The prices indicated are the hammer prices; the final prices included a buyer’s premium which was 10,764% of the hammer price.
10 cf. Schweizer 2001, 53.
11 cf. Schweizer 2001, 53.
12 cf. Schweizer 2001, 53.
13 cf. Schweizer 2001, 53.
14 cf. Schweizer 2001, 53.
15 cf. Schweizer 2001, 53.
16 Bertin 2021; Tamara Schild: Stratégies de création de valeur dans une maison de ventes aux enchères : ethnographie d’un département d'art africain et océanien, PhD thesis in Social Anthropology, Paris 2023.
17 Hubert Goldet was a generation later than Breton, Gaffé and Pierre Verité and did most of his collecting from the 1970s to the 1990s.
18 Yaëlle Biro: Fabriquer le regard. Marchands, réseaux et objets d’art africains à l’aube du XXe siècle, Paris 2018.
19 République française, Loi n° 2000-642 du 10 juillet 2000 portant réglementation des ventes volontaires de meubles aux enchères publiques, [10.07.2000], URL : https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/loda/id/JORFTEXT000000751735/ <30.03.2022>.
20 Alain Quemin: Christie’s et Sotheby’s : l’arrivée des maisons de ventes anglo-saxonnes sur le marché français, in: Universalia 1999, Paris, Encyclopedia Universalis, here: 239.
21 Quemin 1999, 239.
22 Schild 2023.
23 Tania Kahn: L’aristo-marteau, in: Libération, [4.04.2012], URL : https://next.liberation.fr/culture/2012/04/04/l-aristo-marteau_808065, <30.03.2022>.
24 Schild 2023.
25 We indicate updated prices calculated by Artkhade database, which is based on the inflation of USD.
26 Clément Thibault : Le Marché de l’art tribal 2000-2015, Paris 2015.
27 Roxana Azimi: Un marché en pleine effervescence, in: Le Journal des Arts, [28.05.2004], URL: https://www.lejournaldesarts.fr/actualites/un-marche-en-pleine-effervescence-82322, <30.03.2022>.
28 Azimi 2004.
29 Auct. cat. Paris (De Baecque, May 22nd, 2019): Art d’Afrique et d’Asie dont collection Durand-Dessert, Paris 2019.
30 Thierry Bonnot: L’Attachement aux choses, Paris 2014, here: 99.