In 1918, Annie and Jean Dalsace they instruct Pierre Chareau to design his first major project, thus marking the beginning of his career: the furnishings for their apartment in Boulevard Saint Germain, including the office of the then young doctor Jean Dalsace. Their collection is expected to grow steadily over the years and has been complemented by numerous other creations for the various family properties Bernheim-Dalsace. It is a close friendship, a true intellectual and emotional affinity, an unshakeable trust that binds the Bernheim-Dalsace family and Dollie and Pierre Chareau.
The two couples frequented the same artistic, literary, musical and intellectual avant-garde milieu. They supported their artist friends with enthusiasm and loyalty, remaining committed to all avant-garde endeavors. They lived surrounded by painters, sculptors, writers, poets, musicians and dancers and cultivated an art of living based on friendship, high standards and quality. They share a common interest in the work of Dollie & Pierre Chareau Pablo Picasso, Juan Gris, Georges Braque, Max Ernst, Jean Lurçat, Max Jacob and Jacques Lipchitz. The Dalsace and Chareau collections are similar yet distinct. Their boundaries are permeable and over the years the works pass from one to another. Through Jean Lurçat, they are close to Jeanne Bucher. The latter was next door to Chareau in La Boutique de la rue du Cherche-midi. The Dalsaces financed the first steps of the gallery, supervised its programming and assiduously supported its editions of artists' books, a selection of which formed part of the collections for sale. And it was again from a friend, Rose Adler, that they ordered frames and bindings.
Unfailing admirers of Pierre Chareau's work, Jean & Annie Dalsace remained faithful to the Chareau couple, beyond Pierre Chareau's exile and death in 1950. They passed on their admiration to their children and grandchildren, who worked for more than forty years, with perseverance and respect, to preserve a unique work in the history of Modernity.
Among the artists in this collection, which testifies to the artistic commitment of Annie and Jean Dalsace, there are 'Nature morte au verre' by Georges Braque (€ 300.000-500.000), 'Chevaux sur la plage' by Giorgio de Chirico (€ 200.000 -300.000), 'Composition aux oiseaux' (€ 70.000-100.000) by Max Ernst and his bookplate 'Annae Alsatia' inscribed in a frame by Rose Adler (€ 30.000-50.000), 'Nature morte à la guitare' by Picasso (€60.000-80.000), watercolors and tapestries by Jean Lurçat including the screen 'Les Constellations' (€50.000-70.000).
Pierre Chareau's exceptional furniture collection fully illustrates his sheer singularity among designers of this period and is a beautiful tribute to his creative genius. Preserved in the Dalsace family since the beginning, this corpus of about sixty pieces of furniture and furnishings offers a complete overview of his stylistic approach, his conception of the layout of space and his highly architectural vision of the furniture, conceived as an elegant, powerful and functional with a solid and pure line. The selection of armchairs, chairs, stools, desks – including the wooden and metal 'MB405' desk (€200.000-300.000), and the typist desk, a unique piece with metal and leather upholstery (€200.000-300.000), tables such as the 'Mouchoir' game table (€80.000-120.000), or the three variants of the MB106 table with 4 elements (€60.000-80.000), 3 elements (€40.000-60.000) and 2 elements (€25.000-30.000), pedestal tables, or the 'SN39' coat stand (€40.000-60.000), a model designed especially for the Maison de Verre, the 'Masque – LP180' lamp (€40.000-60.000), and other furniture are all iconic creations.
After the sale of the Simone and Claude Dray Collections, 2006, the original set of the Simon Collection, 2008, the sale of the Château de Gourdon collections, 2011, focused on the Modernity of the 20s and 30s, has already celebrated the work of Pierre Chareau in terms of the number and quality of the pieces brought together. More recently, in June 2018, Christie's sold a very rare metal example of the 'Religieuse SN 31' floor lamp, a sculpture and a lamp in New York, which fetched $2,1 million, setting a new record for the artist and confirming his rightful place as one of the greatest creators of the XNUMXth century.
The sale of this ensemble will be an opportunity to once again highlight the work of Pierre Chareau, after the celebration organized by the Jewish Museum of New York a few years ago with its beautiful monographic exhibition, Pierre Chareau: Modern Architecture and Design , 2016 – March 2017.
The history of the Bernheim-Dalsace family is a profoundly human one, which bears witness not only to the artistic and cultural context of the first half of the 30th century in France, but also to its political and social history. Modern and progressive at heart, the Dalsaces have been committed throughout their lives and have displayed great political and social activism. From the XNUMXs onwards, Jean Dalsace fought in favor of family planning and contraception, a struggle he continued after the war and which he shared with his son-in-law Pierre Vellay, himself a gynecologist and obstetrician. They participated in the great political debates and actions of post-war France, promoting the values of humanism and social progress.
