For Immediate Release 20 September 2011 Contact: Aliz Morand +44 207 389 2537 amorand@christies.

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20th CENTURY DECORATIVE ART & DESIGN INCLUDING ICONIC REN GRUAU ILLUSTRATIONS AT CHRISTIES IN OCTOBER

20th Century Decorative Art & Design Tuesday, 25 October 2011 at 2.00pm London Christies announce a fabulous Autumn sale of 20th Century Decorative Art & Design, including original drawings by the master of 1950s couture illustration, Ren Gruau. Spanning a variety of design movements across the 20th century, the sale also comprises an important, recently rediscovered watercolour by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (estimate 50,000-70,000), along with a vast array of contemporary design and a carefully edited selection of Art Nouveau, Modern and Postmodern works. The overall auction features over 130 lots, with estimates ranging from 1,000 to 300,000 and is expected to realise in excess of 2 million. REN GRUAU & FLEUR COWLES The internationally recognisable work of haute couture illustrator Ren Gruau (1909-2004) fashioned the style of the forties and fifties, making him an artist favoured by the worlds most renowned fashion houses, including Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Balmain and Lanvin. Christies is offering a group of twenty of his most elegant and iconic illustrations, commissioned by the influential fashion editor Fleur Cowles (1908-2009), who married Gardner Cowles of the Cowles Publishing Empire, and subsequently redesigned Look magazine and founded the innovative Flair magazine. Although short-lived, Flair was celebrated for its lavish production, cut-out pages and talented contributors, from Ren Gruau and Jean Cocteau to Lucian Freud, Tennessee Williams and Salvador Dal.

The work of Ren Gruau is collected and displayed by the most prestigious art museums in the world, including the Louvre, Paris. With estimates ranging from 1,500 to 10,000, the works are expected to attract international fashion-lovers and collectors, and include some oil paintings. Highlights include above from left to right: The Red Coat, circa 1950 (estimate 3,000-5,000), The Blue Bows, circa 1950 (estimate 3,000-5,000), Redhead, circa 1950 (estimate 1,500-2,000) and illustrated first page: Castillo Lanvin, Dior, Balenciaga, circa 1950 (estimate 3,000-5,000). THE SILVER APPLES OF THE MOON The Silver Apples of The Moon, 1912 (estimate 50,000-70,000, illustrated left) is a recently rediscovered watercolour by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh (1865 -1933), the wife of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Scottish architect, designer and painter. It is known to have been exhibited in 1912 at the Annual Exhibition of The Royal Scottish Societies of Watercolours and then in 1913 at the 52nd Exhibition Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, but since then there are no known records of it. Christies are honoured to present this landmark discovery to the market. Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, whose design work became one of the defining features of the Glasgow Style, exhibited at the 1900 Vienna Secession, where she undoubtedly influenced the Secessionists Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann. As with so many Symbolist works, The Silver Apples of the Moon is inspired by poetry, taking its title from W. B. Yeats poem The Song of Wandering Aengus, with a twilight scene depicting the poems character, aGlimmering girl, With apple blossom in her hair, The silver apples of the moon, The golden apples of the sun. CONTEMPORARY DESIGN The sale features a strong array of conceptual chairs by contemporary designers (illustrated next page left to right). Among the many highlights is the London Papardelle chair (estimate 100,000-150,000) designed in 1992 by Ron Arad (B. 1951), the celebrated architect and designer, whose latest show at The Roundhouse this summer attracted huge critical acclaim. The distinctive and imaginative design is made of woven bronze draped with a back scrolling in a wonderfully elegant arabesque through the seat, finished with an extendable floor carpet. Also by Ron Arad is the Oh Void chair, 2006 (estimate 125,000175,000), a translucent design with two central voids, which is one out of six editions. The Miss Blanche armchair,

1988 (estimate 120,000-150,000) by Shiro Kuramata (1934-1991), one of the most important Japanese designers, pays homage to Blanche Dubois, the title figure in the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, incorporating red roses suspended in the air in a transparent acrylic structure. The front cover lot of the catalogue is Alu-Felt Chair, 1993 by designer Marc Newson (B. 1963), an expensive and influential work produced in an edition of six examples, estimated at 200,000 to 300,000.

POSTMODERNISM The group of postmodern works showcases a selection by the Milan-based Memphis Collective, founded in Milan in 1981 by Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007). The group reassessed the Modernist principles of design which had dominated post-war Europe and America. Postmodernism is celebrated in the first major retrospective exhibition at the V&A: Post-Modernism: Style and Subversion 1970-1990, opening on 24 September 2011. The Memphis Collective included Martine Bedin, Aldo Cibic, Michele De Lucchi, Matteo Thun and Marco Zanini, and later George Sowden and Nathalie du Pasquier. Highlights of the sale include the Beverly sideboard, designed in 1981 (estimate 6,000-8,000, illustrated below left) which challenges traditions of functional furniture; and the silver Murmansk Centrepiece, 1982 (estimate: 7,000-9,000, illustrated below middle left), both designed by Ettore Sottsass.

ART NOUVEAU Art Nouveau objets dart are led by a set of four enchanting gold candelabra by Maurice Bouval (1863-1916) the Obsession & Rve Suite, circa 1898 (estimate 25,000-35,000, illustrated top right) in chased gilt bronze, on marble plinths. The Louis Majorelle (1859-1926) Orchides Bureau and Fauteuil, circa 1905 (estimate 120,000-180,000, illustrated top middle right) epitomises Art Nouveau style, in carved amaranth decorated with ormolu mounts.

Images available on request The complete e-catalogue for this sale will be available online at www.christies.com in September 2011.

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Public viewings for this sale at Christies London, 8 King Street, St. James, London, SW1Y 6QT From Friday 21 to Monday 24 October 2011