by Anne Doridou-Heim
Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Le Carmen des Carmen, Paris, 1949, one volume in ff. in a cardboard cover, one of 30 copies on japan nacre paper edited by Louis Aragon, accompanied by an original drypoint, 4 aquatints and 4 signed etchings by Picasso and the same etchings, unsigned. Estimate: €20,000/30,000 Picasso Estate, 2022
Marie Bell, whose real name was Marie-Jeanne Bellon-Downey, was a child of the 20th century born on Christmas Eve, 1900. She finally left the stage in 1985. She blazed through this period rich in artistic invention, participating in the birth of cinema—first silent movies, then the 'talkies'— and becoming a well-known figure on the stage. A stalwart of the Comédie-Française at the age of 21 (France's only national theater founded in 1680), she became a member in 1927, then an honorary member in 1948. She played the main roles in the classical repertoire, and her performance as Phèdre made history. With a passion for masterpieces of the stage, she used "her golden voice, warmth and dramatic intensity to embody tragic roles" (Christine de Rivoyre, Le Monde, October 1951), while also receptive to plays by the contemporary writers she knew, many of whom were her friends. A secret treasure nourished by fifty years of artistic encounters, her collection and library are about to be unveiled to the public. It will take more than three sales to raise the curtain on this fascinating ensemble.
Evoking the Theater
The auction house asked Jean-Jacques Aillagon to write the preface to the catalog in a nod to another Minister of Culture, André Malraux, who, as a close friend of Marie Bell. In 1963 Malraux wrote: "Seeing Marie Bell in Phèdre is a unique opportunity for anyone who truly wants to experience French genius" (autograph note on a visiting card, €300/400). Mr. Aillagon's preface pens a tribute to this great figure of the entertainment world by painting "the portrait of an extraordinary artist" whose literary and artistic memories reveal "a fascinating picture of the vibrant world in which she lived". While the theater loved her as a tragedian, the movie world had other roles lined up for her. In 39 films made alongside actors like Raimu, Fernandel, Louis Jouvet and Michel Simon, she sometimes played the femme fatale, sometimes the bourgeois lady. But it was at the Comédie-Française, between 1921 and 1953, that she made her mark on the history of the theater, as reflected in the sale presented here, notably with a rare set of gouaches by painter, set designer and decorator Jean Hugo, a close friend of Cocteau and the illustrious institution. In a dozen lots, these drawings, with estimates between €400 and €600, depict the great friendship between the Bell and Hugo.
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