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Modern Times

Viewing days
14 – 23 April 10am – 6pm
24 April 10am-12pm & 1pm-5pm

Live auction
25 – 27 April

Timed Online auction
14 April – 2 May

Catalogue
Live auction from 31 March
Collection Soons already published

Platform concert Classic
Sunday 23 April 11am
Mona Verhas (violin)

In this ‘Modern Times’ auction, the collection of Lies and Cees Soons could be high profile. A purified selection from this collection, together with other masterpieces, can be viewed in what is known as the ‘first loft of Antwerp’, or the ‘Linda Loppa loft’, located at Verlatstraat 12.

The collection comprises some 150 lots with paintings, prints and drawings from the 1970s and 1980s by foreign and Belgian artists.

For instance, pieces by Lucio Fontana, Gianfranco Zappettini, Lourdès Castro, Antonio Segui, Richard Paul Lohse and Key Hiraga have been catalogued but it was still mainly work by young wolves from the Netherlands and Belgium that the collector couple focused on. Thus, on 25 April, work by Karel Appel, Klaas Gubbels, Rob Van Kroningsbruggen, Ad Dekkers, Ria Van Eyk, Willem Hussem, Jaap Wagemaker and, of course, Roger Raveel and Raoul De Keyser will be auctioned.

It may be said that the Dutch couple Soons, residing in Antwerp in recent years, was one of the first to discover the latter, even before that happened in our own Belgium/Flanders.

No fewer than ten works (four paintings, two drawings and four prints) by this extremely important post-war painter predominate in this varied display.

Besides the Lies and Cees Soons collection (with considerable attention to Raoul De Keyser), this auction begins with some remarkable pieces in Meissen porcelain that take us furthest back in time. Of equal refinement testifies the pottery of Ars Lenci Turin and there is also high-quality glassware from around the turn of the century, with vases by Daum/Nancy and Etablissements Gallé, among others, all decorated with ornately etched botanical representations.

Among the paintings, as always, the established names can be found, ranging from winter landscapes by Constant Permeke, to a sublime “Hollebeek” by Valerius De Saedeleer, dreamy portraits by Fernand Toussaint, a back-glass painting by Floris Jespers, five intriguing portraits by Nico Eekman in his unmistakable style and a typical matter painting by Bram Bogart, “Orange-red” from 1984 in a manageable size of 40 by 41 cm.

Design furniture will not be missing either, including two pairs of Barcelona chairs by Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe for Knoll, two ‘womb’ chairs by Eero Sarinnen (est.: €1000-1200) and two pairs of exceptional ‘Barcelona’ chairs by Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich with cognac leather upholstery after the 1930 model.

On the last auction day, we focus as usual on graphic work and drawings in the Works on Paper auction.

Some highlights from this auction are a very rare commissioned copy of Stijn Streuvels’ debut ‘Lenteleven’, the personal copy of Elskamp’s ‘Salutations dont d’angéliques’ (one of the three copies on Japanese, with the cover printed on silk by Henry Van de Velde), a copy of the rarest luxury Elsschot, i.e. one of the two known copies on Van Gelder of ‘Het Dwaallicht’, with a dedication to his youngest daughter Ida.

From a private collection, some fine editions from the post-war period will also come under the hammer: Günther Uecker’s ode to Jef Verheyen, ‘Souvenir’ (1989), Barbara Kruger’s artist’s book ‘My Pretty Pony’ (1988); Jeff Koons’s ‘Signature Plate (For Parkett 19)’; Jan Fabre’s ‘Luister? ‘ (1992); a full set of ‘S.M.S’ (‘Shit Must Stop’) as well as a rare full set of the fully screen-printed magazine ‘Artworker Star’ (1971-72). There are also some rare editions by Raoul de Keyser and an original design (1988) by this artist for a poster with the poem ‘Vervulling’ by Gerrit Achterberg.

Finally, there will also be some fine prints from an old Antwerp collection from Brueghel over Crispin de Passe to Whistler, Jongkind and Van Straten.

Viewing days
14 – 23 April 10am – 6pm
24 April 10am-12pm & 1pm-5pm

Platform concert
Sunday 23 April 11am
Mona Verhas (violin)

(Room Platform not accessible due to concert, 10am – 12.30pm)

Catalogue online
Live auction from 31 March
Timed Online auction from 14 April

Live auctions
25/04 – 2pm– Modern Times I
26/04 – 2pm – The Soons Collection
27-04 – 10am – Works on Paper I
27/04 – 2pm– Works on Paper II
27/04 – 7pm – Works on Paper III

Timed Online auctions
14 April – 2 May
Collectibles & Design (closes 1.30pm)
Still a Life! (closes 2pm)
Jewelry (closes 2.30pm)

Parking
Nearby underground parking: Kooldok or Steendok (5 min walking distance)

Collecting your goods
By appointment and after receipt of payment from Tuesday 2 May until Friday 12 May (9am-12 & 1pm-5.30) and on Saturday 6 May (10am-1pm).

Bidding
You can place bids in four different ways:

  1. In our room Platform, Verlatstraat 18, Antwerp.
    You receive a bid number after registration at the front desk, from 30 minutes before the start of the auction.
    Commission = 25%
  2. Online: you can submet a ‘prebid’ or you can bid alonag ‘live’ during the auction.
    There are 3 platforms you can use: Bernaerts Live or the app ‘Auctioneers BernaertsInvaluable of Drouotonline 
    During the auction, you log in to follow the auction live and to place your bids.
    Commission = 28%
  3. Place with your Bernaerts Account a written bid via the online catalogue or mail a completed form to info(at)bernaerts.be at the latest 12h prior to the live auction.
    The auctioneer will try to acquire your lot at the most advantageous price possible.
    Commission = 25%
  4. Request with your Bernaerts Account a telephone line via the online catalogue or mail a completed telephone bid form to info(at)bernaerts.be, at the latest 12h prior to the live auction.
    One of our team members will call you during the auction to bid live.
    Commission = 25%