Investigation – The collection, a plural idea

While the possibilities of coming into possession of a work of art are multiplying, the relationship between it and its owner has also changed considerably over the past twenty years. The market has seen the birth all over the planet not only of new fairs of international stature, but also of more modest events which nevertheless can be of quality. The Web has also brought its share of opportunities both to buy and to learn. To sum up a bit bluntly, it is possible to find the best and the worst anywhere and at any time. To say the market has changed is an understatement. Everything has changed. There is not a stage that has not recorded changes: the number and nature of creations, distribution and promotion methods, the development circuit, restoration, conservation, transmission... However, one element remains : the passion that drives collectors. It is with them that this article* will continue in an attempt to understand how the ^21st century changes or not the idea, the form, the pleasure of collecting. To conclude, the floor will be given to Michel Lejoyeux, professor of psychiatry and addictology at the University of Paris 7.

When you don't know where to start, there is a saving tool: the dictionary. A collection, we read there, is a “meeting of objects brought together and classified for their documentary and aesthetic value, for their price, their rarity, etc. An example is given: the collection of paintings. What a bargain! An “oriented” reading would therefore suggest that bringing together artistic works is a must. Stamps, Spider-Man figurines and other banknotes aside, the collection would have a priority in trouble with art? Probably historically, although writings, and perhaps jewellery, have always been objects of covetousness and hoarding. But let's stop generalizing to focus on the adventure of women and men with overflowing curiosity and an insatiable appetite, who day after day build ensembles with coherence that is sometimes obvious, but often mysterious. The collection reflects a story, a personality, a spirit, a soul. It is both a mode of expression and representation. Plural and contemporary portrait.

An unpremeditated phenomenon

Collecting is, in essence, bringing together what is scattered according to rules that we set ourselves and which only have to satisfy the one who enacts them. It being understood that this definition is only valid for individuals not subject to the laws of fashion and who do not aim at speculation. These free spirits have become demiurges within a perimeter that they have defined or that has imposed itself on them. Everyone agrees that they hadn't planned anything. “The collection started by chance. I was in my early twenties when I fell in love with two apples painted by Emile Marzé. This painting has never left me. Over time, it was joined by many other pieces. I wiped plasters. I had to make choices. I do not resell and do not disown anything. These are moments,” explains Bernard Massini. For this neurosurgeon based in Nice, the collection is a life journey. It will take years to realize that the shock experienced as a child, on discovering the works reproduced in certain books by his uncle, affectionately described as “Sunday painting”, was founding. "This strong emotion, I wanted to relive it", he explains quite simply. It was also very young that "everything" was played out for René-Julien Praz, well known for his activity as a Parisian gallery owner with Bruno Delavallade, but who is also a collector passionate about the Los Angeles art scene in particular. “The first time I spent some money on a work, I was still a kid and it was for a lithograph by Yves Brayer. I had no knowledge of art history at the time. Only the attractiveness of the image mattered to me. I remember having also acquired a print by Leonor Fini. Then it was paintings, sculptures, installations… This taste for creation, I cannot explain it to myself. I have no gift or artistic training, I do not come from a family of art lovers or collectors. Not to mention that this appetite earned me more than one admonishment from my father! I never had the feeling of creating a collection. I had no other desire than to please myself. It wasn't until years later that I realized. With the number. At that moment, I said to myself that I was spinning bad cotton! “, he laughs. Jean Mairet, meanwhile, is very clear: he “never wanted to collect”! At the head of more than 600 works, this former industrialist has multifaceted tastes that only respond to his internal logic. “I didn't wake up one morning thinking I was going to become a collector. Around the age of 16, I met a painter who knew how to interest me in the visual arts while my tastes mainly attracted me to theater and directing. Finally, around 22, I bought a canvas and that was just the beginning. I attach importance to the formal side of the works, even if I cannot define a standard. The collection is therefore hybrid in aesthetics but also in media – paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations, videos… When I buy, it is because I believe that the work answers a question that I have never asked myself. . The collection is also and above all the privileged place of freedom of expression. »

The collectors themselves

At this point, it already seems obvious that a collection is above all the unique story of a woman or a man. Asking them to talk about her, they can't help but talk to us about them. With humor and sometimes provocation! “I am a psychopath, a patient, a collector! exults Jean-Claude Volot through a telephone duly installed in his car. The insatiable entrepreneur has a temper. This voice that carries is matched only by its loyalty. So what is a collection for you, Monsieur Volot? “A tyrant who builds himself. A way of existing, an identity. You have to be honest. No need with him to expect anything other than the truth. The former rugby player always goes straight behind the line. Founder of the Center d'art contemporain de l'Abbaye d'Auberive, where he defends the artists he loves. Its collection currently numbers some 2,200 pieces. Since it is up to us to choose who to give the floor to now, why not let another strong character be heard, but this time in a feminine way: “I know why I buy. I rationalize, I justify. So I'm not impulsive. I need to create a link with the work, to have a honeymoon with it! To make it short, let's say that my collection has three preferred themes: characters from behind, madness and childhood,” explains psychotherapist Evelyne Deret. Before continuing: “But there is no fatality. I tell myself that I might as well explore other things in the future. For René-Julien Praz, it's time for mastery. With experience, he allows himself to take the time. “I buy with my eyes and not with my ears. Names circulate and prices soar. I refuse to participate in this masquerade. When I spot an artist, I follow him and wait for his work to reach a certain maturity to buy one of his pieces. Because if it enters my collection, it is to stay there. For her part, Eve de Medeiros says that she was first interested in design creation, before turning to photojournalism. “I primarily buy shots relating to Africa and Brazil. Choices related to my origins. Which means that I could just as easily acquire images of Brittany! “, laughs the one whose father was Beninese, with Brazilian ancestors, and the Breton mother. For 10 years now, she has been interested in contemporary drawing. Co-founder of D Dessin, a Parisian salon dedicated to this field, she pays tribute to those who introduced her to this fundamental discipline: “Drawing is the basis of everything. I like the relationship to paper, to this material. It was the collectors Patrick Perrin and the spouses Florence and Daniel Guerlain who initiated me. With them, consciously or unconsciously, I learned. They gave me the taste of the line. Today, I buy more drawings than photographs. Without transition, let's head to Brussels and the Belgian collector Galila Barzilaï-Hollander. A common point with all our guests, she hides neither her preferences nor her points of view. She contracted the collecting virus from her husband, who was a connoisseur of art and antique objects. So much so that after his disappearance, she went to the Armory Show, while she was staying in New York, believing that she would discover…armors there! This anecdote, she tells it as a joke when asked how she fell into the crucible of contemporary art. Having become totally bulimic, she explains: “There are people who do gymnastics, who swim, me, it's creation that revitalizes me. There is no sophisticated thinking related to my purchases. If you asked me to give a speech on my collection, I would like to quote Bill Viola: “Live your art, do not think your art”. That's what I do ! »

Springs and motivations

The collection would therefore be a way of living art full-time. An incredible sounding board which would materially express a series of feelings, sensations, ideas in perfect echo with those emitted by its owner. "Having his works with you is a real emotional happiness, not only because we chose them with love, but also because they entered our lives at special times," says Juliette Ghatradyal. The architect-designer, who shares his life between France, India and South America, has convictions. “Not all collectors are billionaires who invest but for the most part art lovers who can buy a work for 50, 5,000 or 50,000 euros with the same attention and without any other distinction than that of the price. Their subject: it is the emotion, the attraction, the encounter with the artist. An exchange, common convictions and then the desire to make known the work of the latter. The collection is also a reflection of the world and a formidable tool for understanding. In every sense of the word: terrifying and extraordinary. A possibility to draw attention to the setbacks, the vices, but also the capacities of the human being. “I'm looking for works that speak of the pain, violence, love and spirituality of man. My collection is hard and intense. It invites us to ask ourselves the question of surpassing ourselves and has its roots in our relationship to the world and to others. It is the opposite of a sequins collection. Deep, but not heavy! Long focused on figuration, she is now moving away from it to move towards more metaphysical works”, specifies Bernard Massini. Witness, revealing, restorative, protective or pleasurable, the collection certainly helps to live and express oneself. “The work is not only a projection surface, but it will seek, unearth something deep in me with which I will be able to reconnect and tell myself a story. I, who have chosen to collect figurative works, could be told that the subject circumscribes the perimeter of the imagination, but no! For me, it tells more than the abstract. Cognitively, these are called preference heuristics. One thing is certain, and that is that I don't want anyone to tell me what to feel or think,” testifies Evelyne Deret. Jean Mairet, for his part, develops an original point of view: “What is interesting is not the work itself, but the moment when it is integrated into the collection. Mine is a pool table! When I buy a coin, it enters the game and redistributes the meanings. Some works fall into a hole, others follow a new trajectory. The collection expresses itself. With France and Claude Garnier, the conversation is focused on a specific set within their collection. The couple now owns several dozen works by the same artist (sculptures and drawings). Installed in the Paris region, the entrepreneur and his wife had separately, but a few minutes apart, a stupefaction for the same creator. Since then, it accompanies their life. “His work nourishes me with all its expressions. I need to feel her living in my head even outside of her presence. The thread of our collection is simply life,” says Claude Garnier.

Means and a hint of strategy

The collection is also part of the treasure hunt. As always in such cases, there is sometimes competition – everyone has already heard of the rivalry that exists between François Pinault and Bernard Arnault, to take an illustrious example. However, it is clear that a collector of contemporary art has more empathy for his peers than mistrust. And why, you ask? Quite simply because unlike collectors in other fields, he does not seek completeness. His main concern will be to discover a work that speaks to him. Of course, some seek to complete a series for the series, to obtain such a work for financial reasons or because it goes well in their living room, but it is said that this aspect of the subject will not be developed here. . So let's get back to this treasure hunt idea. To achieve this, you must at least develop certain skills – curiosity, memory, patience, consistency… – and establish a strategy! Again, some similarities and uniquenesses. With Jean-Marc Le Gall, the timetable has been regulated like clockwork since his discovery of contemporary art with friends. “Once a quarter, the members of the group proposed a work and the whole was submitted for discussion so that, ultimately, only one would be purchased. It was from this time that I began to browse the galleries, to criss-cross Paris in all directions. And twelve years later, it continues. Not an exhibition from the Maison rouge, the Plateau, the MAC/VAL, the Cartier Foundation, the Ricard Foundation, etc., slips through the cracks of his net! Not to mention the galleries. About ten visited every Saturday! “If there is an insatiable field, this is it. Each knowledge calls for another. I had to resume a reading of the history of art, return to the Louvre, study the correspondences, the roots. Art is both renewal and repetition,” adds this human resources consultant and associate professor at the Sorbonne. If the group of the beginning has dissolved, it does not mean that Jean-Marc Le Gall has become solitary. Now two other collectors accompany him on his wanderings which regularly take him beyond the borders, to Basel, Brussels, London or elsewhere. “Collecting is a school of rigor,” says René-Julien Praz. “I was impulsive at the start, much less today! It must be said that collecting is a passion that has a cost. It requires knowing how to negotiate overdrafts and make choices. The purchased work is always purchased at the expense of something else, except for very few people. To collect is to put oneself in danger emotionally, financially and psychologically. It is not an easy activity. It's tiring, but very stimulating,” he continues. And Eve de Medeiros recounts: “One year, at the FIAC, I stopped in front of a canvas by a German painter. She was talking to me, but I decided to wait until I had done the trick. Finally, two or three stands further, I retraced my steps to acquire it. Only a few minutes had passed and yet the work had been sold. I promised myself never to do it again. I am now attentive to the feeling felt that day. If I recognize it, I buy! And then, theme or no theme? “Here again, no premeditation, expresses in turn Didier Beaumelle, founder of the Gallery Locator website and co-founder of LotPrivé.com. Only awareness. At one point, you notice that there are several works with masked characters. And this becomes a theme of the collection. For my part, I am sensitive to a baroque representation of the body. I appreciate the beauty of monstrous things. I also have a lot of self-portraits. Orientalism is also one of my themes. My collection is essentially made up of photographs. Before moving on to the next item, René-Julien Praz has one more thing to add: “At home, I alternate works. Every collector must have a place of storage. I often hear people say: “I have no more room on the walls!” It is a false pretext. A true collector always finds space! »

Artist, I love you too

Who says collectors generally says artists. However, the relationships between them are not necessarily obvious. Obligatory for some, indifferent for others. Our guests have their say. “I'm not necessarily going to seek to know the artist, or even to obtain information about him. What I preserve with this attitude is my relationship to the work. I don't want him to interfere in this relationship by putting his story, his explanations. My bias is the work and, for me, it must remain independent of its creator. This does not prevent me, personally but also through the actions of Art Collector, from supporting a number of artists (1). By bringing together collectors and gallery owners around them, we are building a network for better dissemination and recognition of their work,” explains Evelyne Deret. Same attitude for René-Julien Praz, who declares that the meeting with the artist is not “necessarily essential” and that, sometimes, it can even be disappointing. “If I collect an artist over time. That interests me,” he says. A little more enthusiastic, Claude Garnier believes for his part that “friendship sometimes comes with the discovery of a piece. I do not believe that the work is very far from the artist, but I am not on the lookout for the latter. However, to better understand, I may want to meet him”. For her part, Juliette Ghatradyal is categorical: “I need to know the artists whose work I like and make their work known. With my husband, we decided to create Foundation for Young Artists Collectors (2) to allow us, not only to share our collection wherever we travel, but also to organize cross residencies between artists from Europe and Central America. . For me, contemporary art is life. Artists challenge, move and manage to express touching and sometimes brutal things, unlike us. It's pretty amazing to find people who echo your own thinking. For Didier Beaumelle, no doubt, you have to get in touch with the artists. If only to bring a critical eye. “I like talking to them, because I always have questions for them! Bernard Massini goes further and talks about companionship. “From the start, I needed to be close to the artists. A very strong friendly relationship was born with some. As a general rule, I apply myself to following their career and it is not uncommon for me to own several pieces from the same designer. Other than that, I think the collector has a responsibility to them. In particular, he must lend the works he owns and not have a speculative view of their work. Above all, we must defend them,” he explains. Same story with Jean-Claude Volot who always wanted to be "activist of what I love". In Auberive, he introduces artists, organizes concerts and puts on plays: "A little Florentine on the edges", he slips over the sentence before concluding: "The happiness of others gives pleasure ! »

Not always easy

To the question relating to the difficulties of the collection, the answers do not jostle at the gate. Let's say that the most widespread is the most obvious: the lack of means. In summary, Jean-Claude Volot evokes frustration and advises to be true to oneself; Bernard Massini speaks of not being seduced and advises not to align himself with Oscar Wilde who declared: “I resist everything except temptation”; Jean Mairet explains that, sometimes, "we have the eyes bigger than the belly" and advises to assume its choices; Evelyne Deret talks about the management of the collection and advises to be vigilant about the papers, HD photos and other archives to keep. Finally, René-Julien Praz exclaims: “The profusion is unmanageable! Things have accelerated considerably in the space of ten years or less. The offer is increasingly dense, rich, but not necessarily more qualitative. When I started collecting, there were the new realists, free figuration, narrative figuration… Today, it goes all over the place. There are no benchmarks in a market that is totally open and globalized. He advises focusing on what you love deeply.

The “after self”, a concern or not

This is a subject that does not fascinate much and yet, one day or another, the collections must be transmitted or dispersed. "The future of the collection concerns me now, because this set really only has meaning for me", observes Jean Mairet. "It's a kind of testimony or objectification of the questions of a normal guy and the life he leads", he specifies before considering selling everything... one day. For Evelyne Deret, it is clear: there is no question of leaving it to her children to take care of it. She is firmly determined to organize everything so that her collection does not become a burden for them. Jean-Marc Le Gall, for his part, is preparing the ground. He regularly offers works to his daughters and also to his grandchildren. " They have chosen. That's what I would have liked to have been done for me, ”he says. To the question: “And then? Bernard Massini enjoins his children to keep what they want and not take care of the rest. "The collection is the adventure of a man or a couple", he concludes. "My daughter was born in it," explains Jean-Claude Volot. She is faithful to my ideas, but we have never discussed this issue. In reality, the future of the collection after me is not a problem, because I don't care! What is certain is that there is no point in wanting to donate it to the community, because most policies translate such an initiative into charges! »

The ideal collection: an attractive idea

To end on a high note, let's talk about the insane question of the “ideal collection” and rejoice in the eclecticism of interpretations and suggestions. Claude Garnier was the first to take the plunge: “An ideal collection is one with which you live well, which is adapted to the individual to whom it belongs. She never ceases to surprise him and feed his spirit. In fact, that's the one I'm trying to build! » Jean-Marc Le Gall is more eloquent but from the collection, he moves on to the ideal work: « As Jung would have said, I am quite 'feeling-sensation'. Not very analytical, I like that the work has a real plastic dimension that hooks me, frontal or more discreet, it doesn't matter. She must touch me and inspire me lastingly, I must communicate with her. I also appreciate that she is singular and profound. I will add to finish that it should not be too big. The painters of the northern schools did not need large formats to be powerful. In order to be confirmed in one's choice, one then has to wait two or three years to check whether, yes or no, the work has kept its “peach”! And the most surprising for the end. “For me, the ideal collection is always in the making. Another hypothesis: I put an end to it and content myself with three works by Donald Judd, Carl Andre and Egon Schiele. There, I think that would be happiness! “, assures in a smile René-Julien Praz.

No, collecting is not a disease

After so many testimonies, it is tempting not to conclude. But there is still a small point to address, so far carefully avoided: “Is collecting a disease? We hear about addiction, pathology. Collectors have fun with it and Galila Barzilaï-Hollander has gone so far as to invent the irresistible adjective “artcool”! Fortunately, a few months ago, Michel Lejoyeux, professor of psychiatry and addictology at the University of Paris 7, declared on France Inter in an exciting program (3) and at prime time: "The collector does not is not a potential client of psychiatry! Phew! For our part, we certify that we have not observed any madness beyond what is necessary, no disease which is not happy, no shortcoming which is not acceptable. To do what is right.

* Find this article in the special issue of the ArtsHebdo|Médias e-magazine for digital tablets. Dedicated to collecting ⁱⁿ the 21st century, it can be downloaded free of charge from our application available on the Appstore or on Google Play.(1) Read the article on the ArtsHebdo|Médias website(2) More information on the Fyac site (3) Listen to the France Inter program