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The small barrel preserves the best wine: Paris Tableaux 2014

 

In Paris, at Palais Brongniart, while the Grand Palais is hosting a lackluster edition of Paris Photo, the fourth edition of Paris Tableaux is positively taking place, and we recommend this latter also if you are not an avid collector. Both the art fairs are dedicated to a specific medium – photography the former, European Old Master’s painting until the 1870’s the latter – but if Paris Photo probably suffers for the fact that there are too many galleries, too many pieces, and most of the time photography is not the kind of artwork that can be perceived only with the eyes as a lot of related information are requested too, on the other hand Paris Tableaux gathers together a relatively small amount of selected galleries (only 26) and is focused on a medium that tends to be less complicated.

 

For example, it will not take hours of training to appreciate the brightness and precision of the small Ruysdael from an English private collection on exhibition at David Koetser gallery, and to notice the two swimmers – a man and a dog – that have appeared after a recent cleaning. Similarly, it will not take too many “visual” efforts to realize that the XIX century picture representing the Temple of Vesta on display at Galerie Sanct Lucas‘ booth – and not available anymore – is extremely well executed. Or, once having seen it, surely you will be curious about the exotic lady portrayed in 1851 by Henry Lhemann presented by Talabardon&Gautier. But even if you don’t know that the painter was a German pupil of Ingres and that Louise-Pauline-Caroline Pouget de Saint-André was the Mauritius born beautiful wife of the Comte Eugène Huet de Froberville, man of good taste and culture, Secretaire Pérpetuel of the Académie des Sciences in 1850, you will be able to appreciate the natural elegance of the painting, the sweet smile of the girl, and also the astonishing frame (its original one as proved by an image taken by Gustave Legray at the Salon in 1852, where The Portrait of the comtesse de Froberville can be seen at the extreme right, just below Les Demoiselles de village by Gustave Courbet, now at the MoMA).

 

« The main problem is that Paris Tableaux is a local fair – comments a leading Italian dealer – and it is not yet able to attract international collectors ». We do agree with him, and probably the market would thus be better for those galleries who have the big names. But you can also argue that the feeling of discovery that most of the collectors love is dramatically lost when too much people are around, or when the prices start to be embarrassing – and that is not the case at Paris Tableaux, where most of the pieces are under half of a million. However, we would argue that the design of the fair may sound too old fashioned and something more could have been done to seduce those who are wise collectors, but who are still victim of the modern and contemporary dictatorship. Even the best old master suffers when the communication “codex”, the setting, the light, underlines that he is old, before being a master.

November 18, 2014