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Couverture du catalogue de la vente de la collection Alphonse Kann à New York en 1927.
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dernier maître. Il n’a conservé que quelques pièces de son ancienne collection du XVIIIe ». En janvier 1927, une seconde vente d’œuvres de sa collection fut dispersée, cette fois à New York, sous les marteaux de MM. Parke et Bernet5. Le catalogue était conséquent avec plus de 500 lots, embrassant l’art depuis les antiquités grecques et égyptiennes, romaines, perses, les œuvres du Moyen-Âge et de la Renaissance, jusqu’au XVIIIe siècle (parmi lesquelles des tableaux de Bruegel, Cimabue, Tintoret, Pollaiuolo, Rubens, Fragonard), des bronzes de la Renaissance italienne, de la statuaire religieuse, des céramiques orientales et hispano-mauresques, des émaux limosans, des tapis d’Ispahan, des tapisseries. La préface du catalogue était une ode au collectionneur : « Nous proposons au public américain une collection réunie par
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un véritable amoureux de l’art, qui a consacré trente ans de sa vie à l’étude du beau et à l’acquisition d’œuvres dans lesquelles il percevait un réel intérêt artistique. Sa collection n’est pas un assemblage d’objets décoratifs amassé dans un but ostentatoire. Seule la plus haute qualité esthétique a satisfait son goût […] Le collectionneur est un homme qui nous enseigne que toute forme d’art est semblable et régie par les mêmes rythmes et sentiments ». Dès le début des années 1920, Alphonse Kann était entré en relation avec le marchand Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler à Paris. Il devint un habitué fidèle de la galerie, où il acquit des Braque (dont l’Homme à la guitare), Picasso, Miro, Léger, Gris… Il posséda plusieurs dizaines d’œuvres de certains d’entre eux. Le collectionneur fréquentait tout autant les artistes et leurs ateliers, et entretint des liens d’amitié avec bon nombre
D'Alphonse à Hélène Kann
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just purchased a Cézanne for four hundred thousand francs from Georges Bernheim and Hessel; it is the "Young girl with a doll", a beautiful piece, that he intends to bequeath to the National Gallery along with another Cézanne, a still life. He told me he intends to leave his oriental objects to the Louvre. On a panel where he has hung eight Renoir, he has placed "The Blue Plate", by Cézanne, from the Mirbeau collection, to prove the superiority of the latter. He has only kept a few pieces from his 18th century collection." In January 1927, a second auction was held, this time in New York, by MM. Parke and Bernet5. The catalogue was impressive, containing more than 500 lots, comprising art ranging from Greek, Egyptian, Roman, Persian antiquities, Medieval and Renaissance masterpieces ranging to the 18th century (including paintings by Bruegel, Cimabue, Tintoret, Pollaiuolo, Rubens, Fragonard), Italian Renaissance bronzes, religious statuaries, oriental and Hispano-Moresque ceramics, Limousan enamels, Isfahan rugs, tapestries… The preface to the catalogue read as an ode to collector: "We are offering to the American public a collection formed by a true lover of art, who has devoted thirty years of his life to the study of the beautiful, and to the acquisition of works in which he perceived real artistic worth. His collection is not an assemblage of decorative objects amassed for the purpose of ostentation. None but the highest aesthetic quality has satisfied his taste, regardless of all subsidiary attractions. […] The collector is a man who professes that all art is akin, and ruled by the same rhythms and feeling." From the early 1920’s, Alphonse Kann worked closely with Daniel-Henri Kahnweiler, a Parisian merchant. He became a regular at the gallery, where he purchased several Braque works (one of which was l’Homme à la
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guitare), Picasso, Miro, Léger, Gris… He owned several dozen works from some of the artists. The collector visited many of the artists and their workshops, entertaining a strong friendship with several museum collectors. He often loaned works for exhibitions. Pierre Assouline writes: "Alphonse Kann pursues with his customary discretion and elegance the composition of what is one of the most beautiful collections imaginable. The downside to his success is that his Saint-Germain-en-Laye home will soon become "uninhabitable": he indeed bemoans that it is regularly "plundered" by gallery directors and museum curators. He does not deny exhibition loans, but this generosity should not be taken advantage of…"6 At this time, Hélène Kann, a teenager, spent her holidays in the Saint Germain forest, with her grandmother; she often visited her uncle Alphonse, who took to perfecting her education. Together, they often visited Braque. "Sometimes, my uncle brought me on a visit to Old Man Braque. Crossing the Île de France, he introduced me to the intricacies of geophysics and geopolitics. The scenery then ceased to stream by as colourful patches, it took shape and integrated within the history of mankind."7 She recollected at times, Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso would visit rue des Bûcherons. "Just like Georges, Pablo seemed to truly venerate Uncle Alphonse. They both lingered in one or another of the vast rooms that followed suite, leading them to a piece of furniture, an object, an unusual painting. In this universe where the originality of his taste gathered and displayed such a surprising number of varied masterpieces, from the most recent to the most ancient, illustrating in a positive light the constant repetition of primordial patterns, they lost themselves."8 Alphonse deeply marked