Knecht collection
On sale Wednesday 26 June 2024
German-Dutch couple Arie and Astrid de Knecht have been collecting contemporary art, particularly paintings, for several decades. Their collection includes not only works by renowned contemporary artists such as Baselitz and Lüpertz, but also pieces by international figurative artists such as Jan Muche and Zou Cao.
Their curiosity also led them to collect works by Pierre Székely (1923-2001). Their collection began to take this direction in the 2000s, when they met Volker Huber, owner of the Sao Lourenço Cultural Centre in Portugal, where an exhibition by the artist entitled ‘Hommes et Animaux’ (Men and Animals) was on show. Fascinated by the works on display, the collectors decided to acquire all the sculptures in the exhibition.
A Hungarian-born artist naturalised in France by André Malraux, Pierre Székely is one of the sculptors who has glorified elementary geometric forms to merge sculpture and architecture. Cones, cylinders or parallelepipeds are superimposed, balanced or interwoven to create powerful, meaningful compositions that are neither abstract nor figurative.
Drawing on his travels and discoveries, from Japan to the quarries of Brittany, Pierre Székely has worked with a wide range of raw materials: granite, marble or onyx of various origins, creating a unique polychromatic effect for each work. This is perfectly illustrated by the six works from the collection of Arie and Astrid de Knecht presented in our Design auction on June 26, 2024.
PIERRE SZÉKELY (1923-2001),
“L’oiseleur”, Mexican onyx, 1996
Height: 102 cm
9 000 / 12 000 €
PIERRE SZÉKELY (1923-2001),
“Sihô”, marble and granite, 1993
Height: 61 cm
4 000 / 6 000 €
PIERRE SZÉKELY (1923-2001),
“Diables clones”, granite and marble, 1998
Height: 57 cm
6 000 / 7000 €
PIERRE SZÉKELY (1923-2001),
“Le ciel est sous nos pieds – à Cini”, onyx and marble, 1992
Height: 63 cm
5 000 / 7000 €
PIERRE SZÉKELY (1923-2001),
“Les trois épouses”, onyx and marble, 1992
Height: 73 cm
8 000 / 12 000 €
PIERRE SZÉKELY (1923-2001),
“La Centaure”, pink granite, marble, 1999
Height: 62 cm
5 000 / 6 000 €
DISCOVER THE ‘20TH CENTURY DECORATIVE ARTS & DESIGN’ SALE
INFORMATION
Sale on Wednesday 26 June 2024 at 2.30 pm
Tajan, 37 rue des mathurins, 75008 Paris
CONTACTS
Marie-Cécile Michel – Director
+33 1 53 30 30 58 – [email protected]
Press & Communication Service
Ariane de Miramon
+33 1 53 30 30 68 – [email protected]