The Collection of Danute and Alain Mallart
It is a rare 18-year-old who spends their first pay cheque on a print by the early modern Japanese painter Tsuguharu Foujita, but then, few people are like Alain Mallart. The French financier describes himself as ‘a mischievous and atypical lover of life’. It is a quality he shares with his wife, the vivacious Danute, a former actor from Lithuania, whom he met in Paris. ‘We are complete opposites,’ says Danute, ‘but what brought us together was a love of opera, literature and curiosity.’
Over the past 30 years, the couple have created a masterful collection of modern and contemporary art and design — one that draws its inspiration from a variety of sources, ranging from the operas of Wagner and Monteverdi to long summer nights on the Baltic coast. It is a surprising meeting of minds between two people who began life in very different circumstances: Alain in Paris, where he took refuge from his lonely childhood in the city’s art museums; and Danute in Cold War Lithuania, who discovered a love of photography and Constructivism while studying music at the Moscow Conservatory.
The Mallarts’ collection is situated across three residences, in Brussels, Paris and Vilnius. Each is distinctive and in tune with its surroundings: the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris, the grounds of La Cambre Abbey in Brussels, and the extraordinary biodiversity of Vilnius, one of Europe’s greenest cities. Danute says there was no specific strategy regarding the placement of artworks. ‘I love it when a work comes into the house and finds its place between periods and objects,’ she says. ‘That is what I call rhythm.’
Marlene Dumas (b. 1953), Feathered Stola, 2000. Oil on canvas. 39⅜ x 22 in (100 x 56 cm). Estimate: €1,000,000-1,500,000. Offered in Collection Danute et Alain Mallart: Bruxelles — Paris — Vilnius on 17 October 2024 at Christie’s in Paris
On 17 October 2024, art and objects from all three residences will be offered in Collection Danute et Alain Mallart: Bruxelles — Paris — Vilnius at Christie’s in Paris. Leading the sale will be the Marlene Dumas painting Feathered Stola, dating from 2000, part of her ‘Strippinggirls’ series based on photographs of sex workers in Amsterdam. ‘It says it all,’ says Danute of the image. ‘She’s seductive, perverse, strong and innocent.’
Other works offered include a Georg Baselitz cowboy; monumental textured paintings by Anselm Kiefer; a vivid copper tableau by Robert Rauschenberg; and an Infinity nets canvas by Yayoi Kusama. There are sculptures by Erwin Wurm, Anish Kapoor and Antony Gormley; and furniture by the aristocracy of 20th-century design, namely Eugène Printz and Jean-Michel Frank. The Mallarts also have a fine collection of highly inventive objects by André Dubreuil — a designer whose bold adventures in metal and glass were never made for practicality, but fantasy. He once said that his furniture should set the eye ‘off on a voyage of discovery’.
Eugène Printz (1889-1948), Bureau, circa 1935. Lacquered tulip tree, sycamore and oxidised brass; three keys. 29¾ x 86⅝ x 32¼ in (75.5 x 220 x 82 cm). Estimate: €150,000-200,000. Offered in Collection Danute et Alain Mallart: Bruxelles — Paris — Vilnius on 17 October 2024 at Christie’s in Paris
It all adds up to a collection as striking, romantic and ambitious as its owners. Alain says his approach to buying art mirrors the way he runs his businesses: ‘Like a conductor looking for the right soloists, seeking out the best harmonies.’ Danute agrees, saying that there are ‘two rhythms and a shared rhythm’.
The couple’s friend, the collector Daniel Lebard, says that it represents ‘a daring review of modern and contemporary art’, combining Danute’s ‘powerful passions’ with Alain’s ‘radical originality’ to create something with a ‘resolutely heroic spirit’.
The Mallarts’ Paris residence. In the foreground is a 2006 sculpture by Richard Deacon, UW84DC #16 (estimate: €30,000-50,000). Overlooking the room is a monumental 2006 canvas by Anselm Kiefer, Dein Haus ritt die finstere Welle (€500,000-700,000). Both are offered in Collection Danute et Alain Mallart: Bruxelles — Paris — Vilnius on 17 October 2024 at Christie’s in Paris
Paris
The light-filled Paris residence is carefully arranged with works by contemporary artists championed by the Mallarts, and takes its lead from Kapoor’s declaration that ‘the work doesn’t exist without the viewer, without somebody looking at it’. Paintings by Kiefer, Takashi Murakami and Martial Raysse are combined with sculptures by Jason Martin, Richard Deacon and Berlinde de Bruyckere to create theatrical environments.
Takashi Murakami (b. 1962), DOB Jump, 1999. Acrylic on canvas mounted on panel. 47¼ x 35⅜ in (120 x 90 cm). Estimate: €150,000-200,000. Offered in Collection Danute et Alain Mallart: Bruxelles — Paris — Vilnius on 17 October 2024 at Christie’s in Paris
Painted in 1999, Murakami’s DOB Jump is an early portrayal of the artist’s well-known character Mr. DOB, an alter ego who has appeared in various forms throughout the artist’s career. (The character’s name derives from a nonsensical Japanese phrase, ‘dobojite dobojite oshamanbe’, which might be translated as, ‘Why? Why? Why?’) Here, Mr. DOB hovers against a vibrant cherry-red background trailing a zigzag of white spray.
Martial Raysse (b. 1936), La France orange, 1963. Oil on canvas and silkscreen on cut panel. 32⅞ x 24⅝ in (83.4 x 62.5 cm). Estimate: €300,000-500,000. Offered in Collection Danute et Alain Mallart: Bruxelles — Paris — Vilnius on 17 October 2024 at Christie’s in Paris
Jason Martin (b. 1970), Scorpio, 2007. Oil on aluminium. 78 x 156¾ in (198 x 398 cm). Estimate: €30,000-50,000. Offered in Collection Danute et Alain Mallart: Bruxelles — Paris — Vilnius on 17 October 2024 at Christie’s in Paris
Pop artist Martial Raysse is famed for playful images that fuse popular culture and geometric shapes into near-sculptural assemblages. ‘I am a painter who uses modern techniques to express a modern world,’ he says. La France orange (1963) features a black-and-white photocopied portrait of the artist’s wife, France, sprayed green. France was born on Bastille Day and named after her country. The joyful artwork was previously owned by Georges Pompidou, president of France between 1969 and 1974, and became a popular symbol of 1960s Paris.
The Brussels residence. The monumental glazed ceramic vase, circa 1900-02, is by Manufacture Zsolnay (estimate: €20,000-30,000), as is the stool, one of a pair, from 1911 (€40,000-60,000). In the background, there is a vase by Jean Dunand, circa 1925 (€40,000-60,000) and one of a pair of unique lamps by André Dubreuil, circa 2000 (€60,000-80,000). All are offered in Collection Danute et Alain Mallart: Bruxelles — Paris — Vilnius on 17 October 2024 at Christie’s in Paris
Brussels
The warm interior of the Mallarts’ home in Brussels echoes the city’s Art Nouveau heritage. It is decorated with obelisks of patinated metal, spidery lamps, and tables in pale oak, designed by the greats of European design: Jean Chauvin, Albert Cheuret, Printz, Frank and Diego Giacometti. Interspersed with these much-loved objects are artworks by Kiefer, Mimmo Paladino and the pioneering conceptual artist John Baldessari.
John Baldessari (1931-2020), Arms & legs (Specif. Elbows & Knees), Etc. (Part One): Elbow, Leg (with Swing), 2007. 3D inkjet and acrylic on panel. 72 x 59⅗ x 3½ in (182.8 x 151.7 x 8.9 cm). Estimate: €150,000-200,000. Offered in Collection Danute et Alain Mallart: Bruxelles — Paris — Vilnius on 17 October 2024 at Christie’s in Paris
Baldessari once said, ‘It fascinates me how I can manipulate the truth so easily by the way I juxtapose opposites or crop the image or take it out of context.’ His 2007 work Arms & legs (Specif. Elbows & Knees), Etc. (Part One): Elbow, Leg (with Swing) is part of a vibrant series of collages that reconfigured the human form.
The Mallarts’ Vilnius residence, with Humberto and Fernando Campana’s ‘Fata Morgana’ mirror from 2010 (estimate: €15,000-20,000). Offered in Collection Danute et Alain Mallart: Bruxelles — Paris — Vilnius on 17 October 2024 at Christie’s in Paris
Vilnius
The monochrome palette of the Mallarts’ modernist home in the Lithuanian capital is disrupted by unruly elements, from geometric silver sculptures to splashes of unexpected colour. Among the former is a piece by the Campana brothers — known for reinventing everyday materials to create vibrant, offbeat designs — called the ‘Fata Morgana’ mirror. The stainless-steel creation fractures light to throw radiant shapes across the minimalist interior.
A.R. Penck (1939-2017), An evening with Pam Partizan, 1989. Acrylic on canvas. 112¼ x 112¼ in (285 x 285 cm). Estimate: €250,000-350,000. Offered in Collection Danute et Alain Mallart: Bruxelles — Paris — Vilnius on 17 October 2024 at Christie’s in Paris
Among the other highlights from the Vilnius residence is a mixed-media work from 1986 by the German post-war experimental artist Sigmar Polke, and a monumental canvas, An evening with Pam Partizan, painted in 1989 by his contemporary, A.R. Penck, whose unmistakable visual language here takes the form of a symbolically loaded whirlpool of figures and signs against a dark backdrop.