With the Olympic Games starting in the capital at the end of July, the city’s cultural institutions took the opportunity to set up exhibitions on the theme of sport: The Body in Motion at the Petit Palais, Equestrian Art in Ancient China at the Cernuschi museum, Fashion in motion at the Palais Galliera, etc. It is true that since Greek antiquity and its Discobolus – discus thrower – attributed to Myron, passing through Impressionism and its rowers by Gustave Caillebotte, or modern art and its footballers by Nicolas de Staël, sporting activities have always been a theme appreciated by artists.
There is even a market for collecting sports-related objects, which is doing wonderfully. It should be distinguished from sales of clothing for great athletes, which are more akin to idol worship. These objects reach crazy prices, like this pair of sneakers worn by Michael Jordan during his last championship final with the Chicago Bulls, sold last year for $2.2 million!
Fortunately for the enthusiast, sports-themed sales at Drouot are concluded at more reasonable levels, far from these stratospheric amounts. This is why they appeal to a wide audience who do not hesitate to bid when a rare piece comes along. The Millon house thus auctioned in 2022 a torch from the Grenoble Winter Olympic Games for 140,000 euros on the basis of an estimate of 40,000 to 60,000 euros. You can also find, among merchants, paintings, drawings, posters, sculptures and ceramics at all prices.
In its space on rue des Rosiers, at the Puces de Saint-Ouen, the Marc Maison gallery demonstrates this. From May 18 to September 18, it exhibits more than 150 works of art, created between 1881 and 1950, relating to 30 sporting disciplines, at prices between 150 euros and 400,000 euros. The highest amount is requested for a two-meter-long painting by the painter Ferdinand Joseph Gueldry depicting A regatta in Joinville, the start, which was exhibited at the Salon of 1881. While hunting, the enthusiast will be able to make some finds, including vases from the Sèvres factory representing runners; bronze trophies for divers, rowers or shot putters; a mirror to rugby players; a bronze of more than two meters, The Messenger of Victory at Marathon, made by the German artist Max Kruse around 1900; or even a cup for the tennis player from the Longwy enamel factory. You can treat yourself to this one for 780 euros!