The Happy Images of Rémy Hétreau

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Rémy Hétreau (1913-2001) was a professional designer and illustrator. He was also an amateur painter, for the pleasure of sharing his poetic vision with relatives. This explains the abundance of works found in his workshop, that the auction house Ader disperses in Paris (Drouot) on January 23.

He realized his prints himself. By browsing the catalog, there is a sort of wink of the artist, as if he had reserved for the prints his most mischievous subjects.

In a video on the site Interencheres.tv, David Nordmann, auctioneer for the sale, shows a selection of works, including a nice etching and drypoint showing a castle haunted by a troupe of actors in medieval costumes, test print on velin, 23 x 29 cm, circa 1980, lot 201. It is watercolored as many other prints of this artist.

Such sales of artist workshops, as explained by Maître Nordmann, are presented with very low estimates (100 € for the lot described above). The aim is both to have the artist better known and to sell his works. The press release of Drouot said that the sale follows an exhibition that lasted one month at the Orleans city hall.

Indeed this is an auction house which is actively involved in arts news. It is modern, it is dynamic, it is good.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The auction houses operating at Drouot have with no doubt a world record: the delay to publish their results. I close this article by mentioning that the maximum price achieved in this sale for a Hétreau print was € 700 excluding fees. This information has been provided by La Gazette de l'Hôtel Drouot dated January 30.