OVA - THE ARISTOPHIL COLLECTIONS - Sale n°12 - FINE ARTS

Kafka and Welles (1915-1985) have much in common. Despite the writer’s disdain for cinema, his theatricality attracted Welles, a man of the stage. The 95 pages, including 91 featuring Orson WELLES’s (1915-1985) original drawings for The Trial, illustrate the creepy places where K. (Anthony Perkins), his lawyer (Orson Welles) and Leni (Romy Schneider) come to grips with their fate. When Welles decided to film The Trial, he was more concerned with his personal woes than with Kafka’s story. Dorénavant je m’intéresse plus aux abus de la police et de l’état qu’à ceux de l’argent parce qu’aujourd’hui l’état est plus puissant que l’argent. Je cherche donc quelque moyen de dire ça. The ultimate auteur film, The Trial allowed Welles to design futuristic sets and arrange space as he saw fit.

Jacques BREL’s (1929-1978) autograph notebook contains the famous song Amsterdam (estimate: €40,000-50,000). When Brel wrote it, he imagined a sea shanty resembling a Brueghel painting with a classic accordion playing in the background.
In his notebook, Brel started out by writing this verse: “Dans le port d’Amsterdam / ya des marins qui boivent / qui boivent et qui reboivent / à [la santé des dames] et qui boivent encore”. He had not planned to write two verses, but the final version eventually had four. The song was performed on stage for the first time in 1964. Brel enjoyed introducing his songs to the public a few days after finishing them. The opening number at a concert in Versailles, Amsterdam received a chilly reception from the audience. At the Olympia, Brel preferred singing it in third place. The first verse won over the audience. By the time he finished singing it, the crowd was cheering.
 

In 1967, Serge GAINSBOURG (1928-1991) was in a romantic relationship with Brigitte Bardot, who asked him to compose the most beautiful love song ever written. In one night, he wrote Je t’aime moi non plus and Bonnie and Clyde. Recorded in 1967, the first time the song was played on the radio it drew the ire of Gunter Sachs, a German businessman and Bardot’s husband. It immediately vanished from the airwaves.
In 1968, Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin fell in love on the set of Pierre Grimblat’s film Slogan. At first, Birkin refused to perform the song about a love affair gone sour, but she relented after seeing that many singers and actresses were interested in singing it with Gainsbourg. They recorded the song in London, including it on the 1969 album Jane Birkin-Serge Gainsbourg.
It was a hit with the public but met with a much cooler reception from the media and cultural officials. L’Express dubbed the song a “duet in grumble minor” and French radio boycotted it. Although it was the first French song that made it to the top of the charts in England, the BBC would only broadcast the instrumental version under the title Love at First Sight by the (imaginary) group “Sounds Nice”. L’Osservatore Romano deemed the song “obscene”, effectively banning it from the airwaves in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Sweden, and the Netherlands.
It was Gainsbourg’s greatest hit. Jane Birkin-Serge Gainsbourg is considered his first “provocative” album. He also composed 69 année érotique and remained a provocateur to the end of his days. The manuscript of this legendary song is estimated at €15,000-20,000.