In just a few years, drawing has made a place for itself in the art market. During the summer of 2020, in Paris, the Petit Palais dedicated an exhibition to 184 old French drawings from the collection of art historian Louis-Antoine Prat. Baptized The Power of Drawing, it had attracted a large audience more accustomed to contemplating paintings. However, this is not the first time that museums have presented drawings. For contemporary drawing, there are even numerous exhibitions. Thus, the exceptional ensemble brought together by Florence and Daniel Guerlain was the subject of a beautiful display at the Center Pompidou but also in the Frac, the provincial regional contemporary art funds.
Alongside this opening to the public, art dealers anticipated the success of the drawing. In 1991, with relative indifference, the first drawing fair was held in the capital. Today, it is a major event which takes place every year at the Palais Brongniart – this year, from March 20 to 25 – and brings together 39 galleries attracting collectors from all over the world. Subsequently, in 2007, the Drawing Now Art Fair was created. This year, from March 21 to 24, it welcomes 73 exhibitors to the Carreau du Temple. Auction houses organize prestigious auctions while museums and galleries mount thematic exhibitions. Paris will thus become the world capital of drawing for a week.
Such enthusiasm would suggest overheating in prices. It’s quite the opposite. Drawing still allows access to art on a reasonable budget today. For old drawings, certain prices are dissuasive but this is an epiphenomenon reserved for the extremely rare works of the most famous artists which does not call into question the accessibility of the market to a large community of amateurs.
In 2021, Christie’s awarded a Bear head, a small drawing of 7.5 square centimeters by Leonardo da Vinci, priced at 10.3 million euros. For less publicized but well-known artists, prices are around or above 100,000 euros. At the Salon du Dessin, the Bayser gallery will offer a lion’s head by Eugène Delacroix for 90,000 euros while François Delestre Fine Art will present a drawing by Paul Gauguin for around 120,000 euros.
Fragile, their conservation requires precautions
However, one can easily buy superb sheets by more confidential artists from the 18th and 19th centuries for amounts between 500 and 10,000 euros, without forgetting the many beautifully crafted drawings, but without attribution, which appear at the bottom of this range. This is why on March 20, Artcurial is organizing a sale dedicated to the French painter Louis Janmot (1814-1892), recently exhibited at the Musée d’Orsay and all of whose drawings are estimated at less than 1,000 euros.
These price differences are also found in modern and contemporary designs. If doodles by Picasso, a prolific creator, find buyers for less than 30,000 euros, the master’s most beautiful drawings reach new heights, like this Portrait of sleeping woman in blue and red colored pencils, representing Françoise Gilot, and sold for nearly 6.8 million euros by Phillips in New York. At the Salon du Dessin, you will have to pay between 1 and 1.5 million euros for a large work on paper by Joan Miro presented by the 1900-2000 gallery. But here again, as long as you are interested in lesser-known artists, great purchases are possible for less than 10,000 euros. And if you browse the aisles of the Drawing Now Art Fair, you will realize that you can acquire beautiful works by promising contemporary artists for even more reasonable sums.
A word of advice: whatever your purchase, the drawings are fragile works. To protect them, good supervision is essential and you must avoid damp places as well as any exposure to the sun. With these precautions, you will keep them in good condition, which will contribute to their value over time.