Tajan, Paris
Collector and publisher (Editions Louvre Victoire) Jean-Jacques Wattel – Director of Departments at Tajan since 2005, named co-CEO last December – speaks of his atypical path and the auction house’s various projects.
L’OFFICIEL ART: You are an engineer by training. What led you to 20th-century Art Deco and to art collecting? And how do you think of your role at Tajan?
JEAN-JACQUES WATTEL: I started working in the food industry, but there was a moment when I realized I wasn’t learning anything, and due to a family estate, I found myself interested in the art market. So at twenty-three I found myself face to face with a vast and very interesting apprenticeship. In 1986 I opened a gallery on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris, geared toward 20th century decorative arts, and over a span of ten years or so I learned quite a bit, thanks mostly to spending time with curators of important museums, who taught me how to discern museum-quality pieces. Then, from 1985 onward, I began to serve as an authenticator for auctioneers. I loved it. Over time, I have built a large network of people with whom I collaborate and have a regular exchange of ideas. Even if my responsibilities mean that I am a decision-maker, my working method is discussion-based. The objects “say” a lot, and as an auction house we have total liberty to refuse pieces that we feel are mediocre or of dubious origin. Currently, I reject about half of what is presented to us. At Tajan, my experience as a gallerist leads me to apply a model that consists of evaluating objects very carefully, and of researching specific categories of objects. Our interest lies in the past (the 20th century) but also in the contemporary. Indeed, I’m very interested in design, and I go to meet young designers: I’m taken by those who show an innovative spirit but are also meticulous when it comes to their concepts and the quality of their craft. My responsibilities at Tajan lie equally in exhibiting, injecting energy, and managing how departments support one another – it’s a constant exchange. The idea is to go more frequently to meet collectors in order to better understand their expectations. Otherwise, as for a marketing plan, we work to make sure that the objects for sale are easily accessible.
What are your thoughts on the last fifty years of Tajan, in terms of the evolution of an interest in collecting and of the quality of objects?
There is what we present to the market, and what the market tells us in return. This guides our choices. Even if we offer many French objects, we’re not exclusively a French auction house. Indeed, in order to develop a good artistic understanding, it’s necessary to be at least European, if not global. This is why I pay special attention to the English Arts and Crafts movement from the end of the 19th century, which determines a lot about the evolution of decorative arts in the following century. But, likewise, what was taking place in Italy at the beginning of the century was important, because it influenced an entire way of looking at things, and thus the evolution of French modernism. When I came to Tajan, the market was in good shape, we sold a lot outside of France, mostly to the USA, and we sold high-end Art Deco directly to private clients. Since then, the market for this type of product, even of lower quality, has totally disappeared. And the number of collectors has also been reduced. The same thing has happened for furniture, whose market is much tighter than before.
What are you looking forward to in the coming months at Tajan?
On March 28 we are organizing a major sale, “Nature and Architecture.” After our sale “Design and Architecture,” we’re interested in what the public thinks about ecology, nature, and the pursuit of a certain quality of life. This sale brings together a selection of designers who have made pieces on the theme of plant life, through a number of very sophisticated approaches – an original universe of poetry and luxury.
“Nature and Architecture Sale”. Tajan, Paris. March 28.