LABROUSSE PIANO. Black varnished piano with... - Lot 160 - Ader

Lot 160
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Estimation :
6000 - 8000 EUR
LABROUSSE PIANO. Black varnished piano with... - Lot 160 - Ader
LABROUSSE PIANO. Black varnished piano with crossed strings. 88 notes. L : 132cm. W. keyboard : 145,5cm. H :96cm. Restoration of use ; tuning and adjustments to be foreseen. Labrousse piano having belonged to Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé, then to Alain Chamfort. What sense to give to an object witnessing the Parisian artistic life, and its evenings, alone or social, when it discreetly accompanied intimate thoughts or conversations ? Perhaps an old Nagra 4-track could have preserved the atmosphere of the late Thirty Glorious... Objects, after all, have the history we know and the meaning we give them. The maker. Born in Limoges in 1853, Joseph Labrousse moved to Paris where he married Césarine Weingartner, daughter of a German piano maker. He opened his own workshop in 1876. His son Pierre succeeded him. He passed the business on to his own son Gaston, who continued the family tradition until the end of the 1950s. The Labrousse brand is known for its small grand pianos, probably the smallest on the market and yet of very good quality. Their small size and reliability ensured their success. We do not know when the instrument was found at Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé's home. The object, if only because of its aesthetics, notably the apparent simplicity of the line, fits perfectly with the atmosphere of the home. History. At the "Bergé - Saint-Laurent" sale organised by Christie's from 17 to 20 November 2009, the Labrousse piano was listed in the catalogue under number 975. At that time, Alain Chamfort composed his twelfth album, in homage to the designer: Une vie Saint-Laurent (with the collaboration of Jean-Philippe Verdun, on lyrics by Pierre-Dominique Burgaud). He goes to the exhibition, observes and tries the instrument with the hope of acquiring it. His presence did not go unnoticed and Pierre Bergé was informed by a journalist. However, impressed by the sums reached on the first day of the sale, Alain Chamfort thought it unnecessary to attend the following day's auction, during which lot n° 975 was offered. In fact, the price of this lot reached thirty times the low estimate... A few days later, carriers rang at his door to deliver a piano... It was Yves Saint-Laurent's Labrousse. Pierre Bergé was sensitive to the composer's enthusiasm. He said nothing, bought the piano and gave it to him... In 2010, as he was unable to find a record company interested in the venture, Une vie Saint-Laurent was produced by the artist himself, offered on the internet and sold in bookshops. Its success will be immediate and has never been denied. Provenance: Alain Chamfort collection. Bibliography: Site: lieveverbeeck.eu / Christie's catalogue, sale Y. Saint-Laurent & P. Bergé sale, 17-20/ 11 / 2019. Expert : M. Jean-Michel RENARD. Collection of music manuscripts of Éditions JOBERTFounded in 1921 by Jean Jobert (1883-1957), they were then directed by his daughter Denise Jobert-Georges, then her grandson, Tristan de Celeyran. Most of these manuscripts were used for the engraving or clichage of the edition, and several bear the traces of this (glued titles, copyright marks, traces of scotch tape and tipex, small marginal cuts, etc.); many are written on tracing paper, with a printed title page. We use the term leaves when they are written on the front only; for those written on both sides, we count the pages
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