The Isabelle & Hervé Poulain Collection

On 17th May 2022, Artcurial will sell the Isabelle & Hervé Poulain Collection, a set of over 150 artworks dedicated to Amerindian culture, during an auction entitled The Native Americans as seen by Europeans 1800-1960.

Auctioneer, racing driver behind the Art Cars concept and Artcurial’s Honorary Chairman, Hervé Poulain and his wife have shared an erudite interest in the Native Americans for many years. Originally started by the couple with the simple objective of decorating their house in Sologne, as time went by the collection of furnishings took a particular and original direction, focusing on how European artists have represented the Native Americans.

This set is composed of sculptures, paintings, photographs, comic strips, and folk art. Among items dating from the end of the 18th century, the 19th and early 20th centuries, are pieces that pay tribute to the creativity of Native Americans, notably the Navajo rugs so admired by Andy Warhol.

Notable highlights of this diverse selection of artworks includes a gouache by Guy Arnoux entitled General Lafayette and the chiefs grouped in the Six Tribes Confederacy; an oil on canvas by Edmont Tapissier, Native Americans exhibited in Seattle in 1902; or the multicoloured wooden sculpture, nearly 2 meters in height, Native American couple.

“This unassuming body of work should be seen as a fraternal gesture towards these people, their practices, and their hopes.”

Hervé Poulain

The artworks in this sale come from the imagination of painters and sculptors who had not been to America, or had travelled there very little, using diverse and often unreliable sources to illustrate their works. These artists gave free rein to fantastic and stereotypical creations, far removed from the ethnographic, historical, and political concerns of their colleagues in the New World.

Information
Browse the online catalogue

Auction

Tuesday 17th May, 2:30 pm

Public exhibition

13th May, 11am-6pm

14th May, 11am-6pm

16th May, 11am-6pm

17th May, 9am-12pm, by appointment

Contacts
Juliette Leroy-Prost

Tél. +33 1 42 99 17 10

Anne-Claire Mandine

Tél : +33 1 42 99 20 73