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A Collector’s Exceptional Trove of Georges Jouve Pieces Is Coming to Auction at Sotheby’s

The impeccable assemblage acquired by Emmanuel de Bayser for his residences in Paris and Berlin will be a highlight of the house’s Design Week sales in June

By Jill Sieracki
Modern living room with two armchairs, sofa, glass coffee table, striped circular wall art, lamps, and decorative items.
Interior of Emmanuel de Bayser’s Paris apartment, including Daniel Buren’s Cercle Coloré Vert which is included in a June 10 auction at Sotheby’s. Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s

Growing up in a family of collectors, artists, and gallerists, Emmanuel de Bayser was surrounded by beautiful things from an early age. His maternal grandfather filled his home with 17th- and 18th-century paintings and furniture, while his father’s family founded Galerie de Bayser, a well-known gallery of Old Masters drawings. However, when de Bayser himself started to collect, he went in a completely opposite direction, gravitating towards 20th-century design, particularly the work of American designers like Charles Eames and George Nelson.

Contemporary living room with two sheep-shaped chairs, a black vase, and a large window with a view of the building outside.
Mouton de Pierre and Mouton Transhumant which carry a presale estimate of $250,000 to $350,000 in Sotheby’s June 10 auction “Of Form and Color: Art and Design from the Emmanuel de Bayser Collection.” Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Bookshelves organized by color with a mix of books, a white vase, artwork, and a gold fish sculpture.
Art and collectible design items coming to auction at Sotheby’s from the collection of Emmanuel de Bayser. Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s

“For us in France, it was completely new, and I liked it,” says de Bayser, who remembers an early, eagerly sought-after purchase—a first-edition Eames rocking chair in a sea foam color fiberglass. “Then you evolve, you change, and you get to buy other things and put things together differently.”

Over time, de Bayser filled his homes in Paris and Berlin with a stellar arrangement of pieces by some of the most esteemed makers in collectible design, including Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouvé, and Jean Royère, among others. Each time he changed addresses, he refined the way he organized his treasures, starting with the shell—the proverbial “white box,” then customizing a furniture plan, then finalizing with art and objects. Searching for those ideal accents is what lead him to ceramics, starting with a dramatic black pitcher that married a round form with precise lines. “This was maybe 15, 20 years ago and I didn’t really know about ceramics and the artists, but this one I really liked, and so I bought it,” he recalls of his first piece by Georges Jouve. “That’s how I started because you buy one, and then you want to do a group.”

Colorful bookshelf organized by hue in a modern room with a sleek chair, table, and vases on a jute rug.
Emmanuel de Bayser’s Paris apartment featured works by Jean Prouve, Charlotte Perriand, and Alexandre Noll, examples of which will be dispersed in a June 10 auction at Sotheby’s. Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Mid-century modern living room with stylish chair, floor lamp, wall art, and a small round table with decorative items.
Emmanuel de Bayser’s Paris apartment featured works by Jean Prouve, Georges Jouve, and Jannis Kounellis, examples of which will be dispersed in a June 10 auction at Sotheby’s. Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s

De Bayser’s affinity spans Jouvre’s many periods, from figurative to more abstract, but often with an eye towards his work in an almost luminescent gun-metal black. “What I like about Jouvre is you have this timeless sense of perfection, but there is always something a bit off, which I love, which is the human touch about it,” says De Bayser, whose assortment of approximately 100 pieces spans sculpture, lamps, mirrors, and more. “He’s just amazing.”

Yet, despite having such a stellar collection of impeccable works, de Bayser found it important to not treat them like museum artifacts. “It’s a real joy to be able to live with all the objects that you buy and love,” he says, specifically calling out the creative process that comes with having to rearrange the assortment when new pieces come in. “An apartment should never be finished—it’s a permanent work in progress.”

Wooden shelves with black ceramic vases and bowls arranged in a minimalist style on a white wall.
Works by Georges Jouve included in Sotheby’s June 10 auction “Of Form and Color: Art and Design from the Emmanuel de Bayser Collection.” Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s

Currently, he is in the process of decorating a new residence in Berlin and relishing the opportunity of starting fresh with new furnishings. And many of his treasured finds will find new homes in the June 10 auction at Sotheby’s “Of Form and Color: Art and Design from the Emmanuel de Bayser Collection.” “Even though I love these objects and I put so much love into finding them, sourcing them, putting them together, waiting for one to come on the market, I”m super happy now to present it and propose it to other collectors and move on,” he says.

On view in New York June 5 through 9 ahead of the live sale, the auction includes a remarkable array of works by Jouvre, Prouvé, Perriand, and Royere as well as examples by François-Xavier Lalanne, Alberto Giacometti, Anish Kapoor, Günther Förg, and more. Objects have deeply personal stories, including a Jouvre lamp de Bayser sourced through a German friend from a hotel in the South of France near where the artist lived, and a Perriand cocktail table that came through another local acquaintance.

Wooden table with colorful ceramic bowls and vases, abstract painting on wall with red, yellow, and purple shapes.
The collection of Emmanuel de Bayser spanned art, ceramics, and furniture, an assortment of which will come up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York. Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Abstract black sculpture on a marble mantel, reflected in a mirror with elegant room decor in the background.
Sculpture by Georges Jouvre included in the June 10 Sotheby’s auction, “Of Form and Color: Art and Objects from the Emmanuel de Bayser Collection.” Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Stylish living room with yellow armchair, unique lamp, round wall art, small table, and portrait painting on wall.
Interior of Emmanuel de Bayser’s Paris apartment, including Anish Kapoor’s Monochrome (Teal Over Matte Silver Pearl) which is included in a June 10 auction at Sotheby’s. Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s

“I like the human contact with people, to talk to them about how did they get the things, to hear the story behind it,” he says. “There is a lot of stories behind all these things and a lot of people behind all these objects, so its really nice to be able to share the wonderful memories.”