Auction introduction: On the 5th of June, Christie's Paris is happy to present Collection Crémieux, passion privée.
Formed by Rosine Bernheim-Crémieux and Claude Crémieux, both members of the French Resistance and committed intellectuals, the collection brings together the great names of the French art scene of the Twentieth Century, from Henri Matisse to Jean Dubuffet, via Nicolas de Staël and Jean Degottex.
The collection bears witness to a nascent modernity remarkably open to the world, including also numerous international artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Tom Wesselman, Wifredo Lam, Tsugouharu Foujita, Max Ernst and Vassilakis Takis.
While the collection focuses on the post-war period, it also stems from a family heritage firmly rooted in earlier avant-garde artistic currents, seen in the Impressionist landscape by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and Auguste Herbin's majestic oil from 1928-29.
Whether geometric, expressionist, or lyrical, abstraction in all its forms was one of the couple's passions. Not confined to any one genre, the collection includes those artists who pushed the boundaries of their day.
This collection is the perfect illustration of the spirit that for Suzanne Pagé defines the audacity and the engagement of French post-war collectors of modern art, of whom Rosine and Claude Crémieux are an emblematic example.