Pierre Soulages (1919)

The Bibliothèque Nationale de France is currently hosting the first-ever virtually complete retrospective of Soulages’s engravings, which make up almost three quarters of its works sold at auction.

At the age of 19, Pierre Soulages turned down a place at the prestigious École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts to continue studying painting in Montpellier. He moved into abstraction after World War II and, from 1948, developed a style steeped in omnipresent black with titles that gave no clues to interpretation. During this period, he took to playing with the fringes of academic techniques, working on paper using walnut stain and tar. His first solo exhibition was in 1949 at the Lydia Conti gallery, launched one year earlier with a profile of Hans Hartung, and in 1954 he exhibited in New York’s Samuel Kootz gallery. International recognition came quickly, and his first retrospective was held in Hannover, Germany, in 1960. From 1979, Pierre Soulages began to explore the luminosity of black and to produce monopigment paintings, scored with a knife, streaked with a brush or smoothed with a blade. Light falling on these works is not absorbed, but instead reflects off the surface. Soulages is today recognised as a giant of the French contemporary art world with a string of exhibitions to his name. The Bibliothèque Nationale de France is currently hosting the first-ever virtually complete retrospective of Soulages’s engravings, which runs until 31 August 2003. From copperplate engravings made at Roger Lacourière’s studio in 1952 to silk-screens produced in conjunction with Michel Caza, a hundred or so prints trace the development of one of France’s best-known painters

Artworks at auctions

Engravings make up almost three quarters of Pierre SOULAGES’s works sold at auction. 90% of his prints still fetch less than EUR1,500, while his canvases can top EUR400,000, like the 1963 painting knocked down in London last February, after a bitter bidding war, for GBP260,000 (EUR423,000). There are already 1,200 paintings in existence. The most sought-after are old black and white canvases from the 1950s and early 1960s. Large formats from this era frequently sell for more than EUR150,000. Recent works are also popular among collectors but change hands for less than EUR100,000, with the most expensive, Peinture, 27 mai (1989), going for just EUR88,400 at Briest (Paris) in June 2000

The market places

The market for Soulages is concentrated in France, Germany, Scandinavia and the UK. The best work is found in London, which generates nearly 72% of turnover, but print enthusiasts can find a wide selection on offer in Denmark and Germany

Buy or sell

The market for his prints is finally taking off. After five years of stagnation, the price of Pierre Soulages prints gained 70% in 2002 and another 10% in the first six months of 2003. The BNF exhibition has been sending ripples through the market. The Calmels-Cohen auction house broke up a superb collection of 35 etchings on 13 June 2003. While colour prints did very well, black images were either bought in or fell short of expectations. One coloured work in excellent condition, dated 1952, fetched EUR3,600, as did a very large etching (95 x 94 cm) from 1975. The paintings seem somewhat less popular than two years ago, although collectors still show up if prices remain reasonable. Although only 14% of Soulages canvases were bought in last year, his price indicator is back down at 1997 levels. Note though that this fall follows a massive leap between 1999 and 2001 when prices were driven up by short supply and a major retrospective at the Hermitage.

    Pierre SOULAGESArtprice Indexall media categories, base January 1997 = 100, currency: EUR   Pierre SOULAGESLots sold at auctions  Pierre SOULAGESAuction sales turnover 1999-2002 / weight by country © Artprice