Jacques Grange Portrait © Jérôme

Hong Kong - In autumn this year, Sotheby’s will offer property from the collection of Jacques Grange, the French interior designer renowned for his refined and eclectic taste. The sale comprises a mix of modern and contemporary art, 20th century design, photographs, antiques, 19th century drawings and Symbolist works, assembled with erudition, sensitivity and a light touch. Comprising 150 lots, the collection will be offered at auction in Paris on 21 and 22 November.

Cécile Verdier, Worldwide Co-Head of Sotheby's Design department and Vice-President of Sotheby’s France, said: "It's a huge pleasure to unveil Jacques Grange's personal collection to the public. Discovering his private world makes clear in an instant why the world's greatest collectors clamour to call on him: his interior is a joyous ode to colour and harmony, and as a collector himself, he reveals an unrivalled gift for living with art."

One of the preeminent interior designers, Jacques Grange has designed the residences of major figures within and outside France, including Princess Caroline of Hanover, Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent, Paloma Picasso, Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti, Caryl and Israel Englander, Francis Ford Coppola and his daughter Sofia Coppola, Jérôme and Sophie Seydoux, Terry and Jean de Gunzburg, Ronald Lauder and his daughter Aerin, Lauren and Andres Santo Domingo, Tobias Meyer and Mark Fletcher, and Barbara Gladstone. 

Housed in the Palais-Royal apartment that was once home to the novelist Colette, the collection has been continually renewed, enriched and re-thought. Each piece bespeaks the perfect taste and liberalism with which it was chosen, their arrangement in the apartment executed with a unique eye. 

A passionate and cosmopolitan collector, Grange built his collection much like a travel diary, where every item of furniture, object, photograph, painting and sculpture is imbued with cultural references and evokes a memory, a discovery or an encounter.

The collection features works by leading artists such as Damien Hirst, Jean-Michel Frank, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, Hector Guimard, Fernand Léger, Donald Judd, Alberto and Diego Giacometti, Yves Tanguy, Alexandre Noll, Archibald Knox, Victor Brauner, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Paul Klee, Armand Albert Rateau, Max Ernst, Eileen Gray, David Hockney, Joseph Hoffman, Henri Matisse, Joan Miro and Alexander Calder.

The provenance of many pieces is prestigious, with André Breton, Paul Eluard, Eugenia Errazuriz, René Crevel, Pierre Matisse, André Breton, Maurice Thorez, Marie-Laure de Noailles and Yves Saint Laurent amongst the impressive roster of names.

Highlights on view in Hong Kong

François-Xavier Lalanne, Petit rhinocéros mécanique, 1988. Patinated copper, with flaps revealing compartments Monogrammed FxL, branded LALANNE, dated 88, and numbered HC 00/00 on the inside of a cheek 24.5 x 56 x 16 cm. Estimate: 100,000 - 150,000 EUR (Photo Credit: Sotheby’s/ArtDigital Studio)

Alexandre Noll, Armchair, Circa 1947. Mahogany, Signed ANOLL, 87.5 x 52 x 58 cm. Estimate: 400,000 EUR - 600,000 EUR (Photo Credit Sotheby’s/ArtDigital Studio)

Pablo Picasso, Compotier sur un meuble, 18 February 1920. Gouache on papern Signed Picasso, dated 18-2-20, dedicated Pour Eugénia and numbered 2 on the reversen 15.8 x 10.9 cm. Estimate: 200,000 EUR - 300,000 EUR (Photo Credit Sotheby’s/ArtDigital Studio)

Josef Hoffmann, M 92 Table Lamp, Circa 1904. Silvered metal and fabric shade, 39 x 20.5 x 28 cm, Branded WW, JH for Josef Hoffman, FG for Franz Guggenbichler .Estimation: 60,000 EUR - 80,000 EUR (Photo Credit: Sotheby’s/ArtDigital Studio)

Other Major Highlights

Damien Hirst, BEAUTIFUL, PALE BLUE WITH 2 CIRCLES IN THE MIDDLE LIKE GLASSES, IT'S A LOVELY ONE, 2001. Diameter 213.5 cm. Estimate: 350,000 - 500,000 EUR (Photo Credit: Sotheby’s/ArtDigital Studio)

Daniel Buren, CERCLE / CADRE, 1991. Diameter 235 cm. Estimate: 80,000 EUR - 120,000 EUR © Photo-souvenir : Cercle / Cadre, 1991, travail situé © Daniel Buren/Adagp, Paris.

Jacques Grange. Courtesy Sotheby’s