Heaven

Sotheby’s Paris is pleased to announce Heaven*, an online sale bringing together an exciting group of works by Hans Bellmer, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Annette Messager, Pascale Marthine Tayou and Laure Prouvost among others.

100% of the proceeds from the sale will go to supporting the Fonds de dotation Merci. Created in 2009 by Marie-France and Bernard Cohen who wanted to put their skills to good use after having sold Bonpoint, an international children’s clothing line, the Merci Fund has since been helping women, men and children build a better future for themselves by striving to improve living conditions through agroecology as well as educational and integrational projects.

To celebrate the Fund’s 10th anniversary, Marie-France Cohen and her three sons, Benoit, Julien and Thomas, have decided to join forces with Thanks for Nothing and Sotheby’s to organize a sale in order to benefit three of the Fonds de dotation Merci’s major projects: « Madagascar », « la Ferme de l’Envol » and « Horizon ». *© Oliver Beer

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Pascale Marthine Tayou

PASCALE MASQUÉE

Estimate: 20,000 – 30,000 EUR

Heaven

13–18 November 2020 | 3:00 PM CET | Paris

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Jean-Marie Appriou

OBSIDIENNE

Estimate: 10,000 – 15,000 EUR

Heaven

13–18 November 2020 | 3:00 PM CET | Paris

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Annette Messager

LE VAGIN AILÉ MERCREDI

Estimate: 7,000 – 10,000 EUR

Heaven

13–18 November 2020 | 3:00 PM CET | Paris

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Laure Prouvost

BUM PAINTING (1)

Estimate: 5,000 – 7,000 EUR

Heaven

13–18 November 2020 | 3:00 PM CET | Paris

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Babi Badalov

TRAVELLER

Estimate: 3,500 – 5,500 EUR

Heaven

13–18 November 2020 | 3:00 PM CET | Paris

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Rashid Johnson

UNTITLED ANXIOUS MAN

Estimate: 5,000 – 7,000 EUR

Heaven

13–18 November 2020 | 3:00 PM CET | Paris

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Giulia Andreani

L'ENFANCE DE PABLO

Estimate: 3,000 – 5,000 EUR

Heaven

13–18 November 2020 | 3:00 PM CET | Paris

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Oliver Beer

HEAVEN

Estimate: 8,000 – 12,000 EUR

Heaven

13–18 November 2020 | 3:00 PM CET | Paris

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The Importance of Philanthropy: A Conversation with Marie-France Cohen and Marine Van Schoonbeek
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Rashid Johnson, "Untitled Anxious Man", 2018

A major player in the contemporary American scene, Rashid Johnson is famous for his work on the cultural phenomena that have shaped the identity of the African-American community. He was first noticed at the age of 21 when he participated in the Studio Museum’s Freestyle group exhibition in Harlem, the artist, born in Chicago in 1977, quickly gained international recognition.

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Giulia Andreani, "L’enfance de Pablo", 2019

Born in 1985 in Venice, Giulia Andreani is undoubtedly one of the most promising artists of her generation. Her work signals a return to figuration without losing an ounce of modernity by playing on the codes of historic painting while integrating very contemporary constructivist and geometric elements.

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Oliver Beer, "Heaven", 2018

Like Marcel Duchamp, the first to have "promoted the everyday object to the dignity of a work of art by the simple choice of the artist" - according to Andre Breton’s definition of the ready-made in his famous Dictionnaire Abrégé du Surréalisme published in 1938 - Oliver Beer places the object at the heart of his artistic approach. But the young British artist goes beyond the ready-made by giving the object he manipulates and reconditions an additional unsuspected soul.

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Francesca Pasquali, "Yellow Straws", 2015

Starting from the observation of nature, the artistic discourse developed by Francesca Pasquali often refers to the materials she chooses to use to create complex and elaborate works that appear organic. The Straws series, to which Yellow Straws is related, is thus executed from myriads of straws cut at
different heights and assembled to create an impression of upward and downward movement that seems as natural as it is artificial.

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Laure Prouvost, "Bum Painting (1)", 2017

Laure Prouvost’s work is as whimsical as it is penetrating, like Bum Painting (1). Here, the artist’s fantasy blends with provocation to better serve the purpose and chronicle the nude, a priori feminine, in a way that is as unscrupulous as it is denouncing. Multiplying the points of view with sagacity, Laure Prouvost invites us to question the history of the model as well as that of the painter, without putting aside the spectator, whom she reveals to a different angle of the work.

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Timeline of the Fonds de dotation Merci

2009
2010
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020

2009

Creation of the Fonds de dotation Merci by Marie-France and Bernard Cohen.
2010

First action of the Fonds de dotation Merci in Madagascar alongside the association Abc domino.
2012

Construction of school cafeterias in 3 primary schools.
mantovani francesca

Marie France Cohen et ses fils Julien ... Benoit

2013

Merci Store Sale. Marie-France Cohen continues the adventure of solidarity and philanthropy with her three sons.

© Francesca Mantovani
2014

Installation of the first vegetable garden at Ankilimivony school.
2015

Launch of the project to create the Ferme de l'envol, the first large farm in agroecology, inspired by permaculture, in Île-de-France.
2016

Construction of a high school in Efoetse to accommodate a first generation of students who, a few years later, would pass the Baccalaureate exams.
2017

Installation of a running water supply system in 4 schools.
2018

Birth of Horizon, a collaborative project for the reception and sustainable integration of refugees, through the promotion of their know-how put at the service of a territory.
Nicolas Heron

2019

Chloé Freoa joins the Cohen family to co-direct the Fonds de dotation Merci with Julien Cohen.
2020

First harvests of the Ferme de l’envol.