BONHAMS CORNETTE DE SAINT CYR TO OFFER THE CLUZEL COLLECTION IN PARIS
Frank Stella (1936–2024), Costa Mesa, 1967, alkyd on canvas, 160.5 x 320.5 x 8 cm. Estimate: €1.5–2 million
A LANDMARK SINGLE-OWNER SALE OF POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART
Paris, France — Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr will offer at auction the distinguished collection of Claude and Grazyna Cluzel as part of its live Post-War and Contemporary Art auction on June 4th in Paris. This exceptional single-owner sale brings together 35 American and European paintings, offering a rare opportunity to acquire works assembled over more than five decades with remarkable vision and connoisseurship.
The sale is led by a major historical work by Frank Stella (1936–2024), created in 1967 and entitled Costa Mesa. This piece stands as a cornerstone of the collection, exemplifying the Cluzels’ early and discerning engagement with the pioneers of Minimal art. Exhibited at the Templon Gallery in 1981 and held in the same collection for nearly 50 years, this spectacular and imposing alkyd on canvas is estimated at €1.5 to €2 million.
Arnaud Cornette de Saint Cyr, President of Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr, commented: “Over more than 50 years, Claude and Grazyna Cluzel have assembled an exceptional collection of contemporary works, ranging from the greatest names in Minimalist art, such as Frank Stella, Sol LeWitt, and Carl Andre, to the most demanding French artists, including Georges Mathieu, Louis Cane, and Claude Rutault, as well as the optical magic of Jesús Rafael Soto. This collection was built through their regular visits to the leading European and American galleries and major international art fairs. Passionate and possessing a keen eye, supported by a thorough and deep knowledge and understanding of art history, Claude and Grazyna Cluzel were able to acquire very important works early on, works emblematic of all these movements.”
Minimal art is particularly well represented within the collection, with works by Carl Andre, Sol LeWitt, Kenneth Noland, Jesús Rafael Soto, and Frank Stella, whose practices emphasize geometry, repetition, and a disciplined use of color. Together, these works reflect the movement’s pursuit of essential form and conceptual clarity.
Claude Cluzel, who studied at the École Spéciale des Travaux Publics (ESTP) in Paris, began his career as an engineer at the Société des Fonderies de Pont-à-Mousson. From 1983 to 1989, he also served as a city council member in Saint-Germain-en-Laye under Mayor Michel Péricard. Alongside his wife Grazyna, he cultivated a deep engagement with literature, exhibitions, and contemporary art, building a collection that reflects both intellectual rigor and personal passion.
The Cluzel Collection stands as a testament to a lifetime of thoughtful acquisition, bringing together key works that chart the evolution of post-war artistic movements across Europe and the United States. This sale not only highlights the couple’s remarkable legacy but also offers collectors and institutions a rare chance to access museum-quality works with impeccable provenance.
Left: Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), Untitled, 1972, painted steel. Estimate: €150,000-200,000; Right: Kenneth Noland (1924–2010), Wayward Red, 1976 (67.8 x 173 cm). Estimate: €50,000–70,000
Other highlights of the collection will include:
Sol LeWitt (1928-2007), Untitled, 1972, painted steel (estimate: €150,000-200,000). This remarkable example of a white-painted metal structures was conceived by the artist and first exhibited in 1965 at the John Daniels Gallery (New York). These iconic works from the early decades of his experimentation have since been incorporated into the permanent collections of major institutions in both the United States and Europe (MoMA and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York – Art Institute, Chicago – Tate Modern, London – Centre Georges Pompidou and Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris).
Created in 1966, Espace virtuel gris et noir by Jesús Rafael Soto (1923-2005) is a work made of oil on steal and wood that was acquired in 1974 by Claude Cluzel and has remained in his collection ever since (estimate: €120,000-180,000).
Wayward Red is a 1976 work by Kenneth Noland (1924–2010), one of the most influential artists of the post-pictorial abstraction movement known as Color Field. Best known for his concentric circles, chevrons, and colorful stripes, he is considered “one of the greatest colorists of the twentieth century” by Karen Wilkin, author of a monograph dedicated to him (estimate: €50,000–70,000)
25 TX Steel Square by Carl André (1935–2024) is a 1975 work composed of 25 squares of rolled steel, exhibited by the Paula Cooper gallery at Yvon Lambert’s in Paris. (estimate: €80,000–120,000)
Composition, 1961 by Georges Mathieu (1921-2012) oil on canvas (estimate: €70,000-€100,000).
Other highlights of the sale will include:
Left: Mario Merz (1925-2003), Untitled, 1990, neon tubes, stones from Yonne and soil. Estimate: €370,000–570,000; Right: Michelangelo Pistoletto (born 1933), Attesa n.5, 1962-1973, silkscreen on mirror-polished stainless steel. Estimate: €250,000–350,000
Mario Merz (1925-2003),Untitled, 1990, neon tubes, stones from Yonne and soil.
Acquired directly from the artist, this masterful installation, created in 1990 in a style that speaks to the senses, reveals a landscape, a topology sans venue, where are intertwined with virtuosity both the informal and pure form. Exhibited at the Espai Poblenou Foundation in 1990, and more recently in Santiago de Compostela (2014), this work is the primal substrate upon which Mario Merz's aesthetic rests, from the appropriation of the achromatic plant kingdom to the emergence of mathematical neon drawings, derived from the Liber Abaci, evoking a philosophy of metonymy (estimate: €370,000–570,000).
Michelangelo Pistoletto (born 1933),Attesa n.5, 1962-1973, silkscreen on mirror-polished stainless steel. This work is an outstanding example of the artist’s series Quadri Specchianti, or Mirror Paintings, a body of work the artist first embarked upon in the early 1960s and which has since come to define his artistic legacy (estimate: €250,000-350,000).
Ettore Spalletti (1940-2019),Paesaggio, 15 (en quatre parties), 2016, color impasto on panels (estimate: €100,000-150,000).
Lee Ufan (born 1936), Relatum, 1978, Corten steel and natural stones. This sculpture creates a dialogue between the stones (a material the artist has used since 1960) and steel plates, thereby bringing nature and industrial society into resonance (estimate: €100,000-150,000).
César (César Baldaccini) (1921-1998), Hommage à Eiffel, 1991, signed, numbered EA 4/4 and with the foundery mark Bronze Romain & fils. This work made of welded bronze, acquired from the renowned Vallois Gallery, is considered as one of César's last monumental masterpieces. It embodies time captured, an allegory of France as well as an ode to liberty (a commando unit of six firefighters braved German fire to hoist the tricolour flag at the top of the Eiffel Tower on 25 August 1944). (estimate: €150,000-200,000).
André Marfaing (1925-1987),Untitled, 1960, signed and dated 60, oil on canvas (estimate: €50,000-70,000).
Left: Lee Ufan (born 1936), Relatum, 1978, Corten steel and natural stones. (estimate: €100,000-150,000); Right: César (César Baldaccini) (1921-1998), Hommage à Eiffel, 1991, signed, numbered EA 4/4 and with the foundery mark Bronze Romain & fils (estimate: €150,000-200,000)
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In 2023, Bonhams achieved 14% growth with $1.14 billion in turnover. Recent important auctions and landmark single-owner collections, include the white glove sales of Sir Michael Caine: The Personal Collection, Alain Delon: Sixty Years of Passion; Sir Roger Moore: The Personal Collection; Personal Property of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and The Robert & Jean-Pierre Rousset Collection of Asian Art: A Century of Collecting. Other notable single-owner sales included The Estate of Barbara Walters: American Icon; The Alan and Simone Hartman Collection; The Crown Auction: Props and Costumes and The Claude de Marteau Collection.
Top lots for 2023 include 1967 Ferrari 412P Berlinetta, Sold at Quail Lodge, US for US$30,255,000. Tipu Sultan’s Bedchamber Sword (sold in London for £14m – a world record for both an Islamic and an Indian object); Paul Signac (1863-1935), Sisteron, 1902. Sold for US$8,580,000 (estimate US$4-6 million), and Claude Monet (1840-1926), La Seine près de Giverny, 1888. Sold for US$6,352,500 (estimate US$4-6m), both from the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection; A Gilt Copper Alloy figure of Virupaksha, Central Tibet, Densatil Monastery, Early 15th century. Sold for HK$37.9m (£4,060,326) in Hong Kong. Yoshitomo Nara (born 1959) Three Stars. Sold for HK$36,754,000 (£3,930,914, also in Hong Kong
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