Newsletter no. 5

Kent Antiques

The gallery’s expertly selected collections include Islamic and Indian courtly objects and works of art dating from the 13th century to the 19th century and Orientalist paintings. 

Since its foundation in 1997, the gallery has regularly exhibited art works in private and international exhibitions, including TEFAF Maastricht and La Biennale Paris. Kent Antiques was the winner of the prestigious ‘La Biennale Paris – Exceptional Object Award’ (Prix de la Commission Biennale 2019 de l’Objet d’exception) in 2019.

The gallery’s clients include museums, major institutions as well as private collectors. All works of art offered by Kent Antiques are ethically obtained from national and international private collections and trade. The authenticity of every single work of art offered for sale by Kent Antiques is guaranteed and certificate of authenticity is provided on request. Kent Antiques is a member of BADA (The British Antique Dealers’ Association) and SNA (Syndicat National des Antiquaires).

Artist, painter and aesthete, Jacques Boussard (1915-1989) made his artistic research evolve through the great movements of the 20th century (realism, cubism, abstraction). Particularly sensitive to the question of form, he became interested in African art from the 1950s following his numerous visits to his friends F. H. Lem and I. Païlès, themselves collectors of primitive arts. This encounter with distant arts then resonated throughout his work. As a lover of ancient art, his taste led him more towards statuary than towards masks. He particularly appreciated “the gravity and nobility, the serenity, the logic, the clarity” of sub-Saharan sculptures (see Primitive Arts in the Artists’ Workshops).

This beautiful crest undeniably echoes Jacques Boussard’s interest in plastic purity. Wonderfully combining the stylization of forms with the purity of volumes, it is inscribed, through the remarkable flight of the horns, in the verticality. The body of the oryx antelope is reduced to its simplest expression. It carries on its back a small fawn, dynamic and graphic. This interplay between the two characters, the mother and the child, their modeling and their touching, nuanced patina are evidence of great antiquity.

Galerie Berès

The Galerie Berès, facing the south west wing of the Louvre which stands across the river, was founded by Huguette Berès in 1952 and is now run by Anisabelle Berès, her daughter, and her granddaughter, Florence Montanari.

The gallery is focusing on the avant-garde movements in France from the 19th to the 20th century – Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract art – and on Contemporary art.

The Galerie Berès participates regularly in the Fine Arts & Biennale Art Fair Paris, the Salon du Dessin, Art Paris, as well as the TEFAF in Maastricht and the BRAFA in Brussels.