Line VAUTRIN

Do you own a piece by Line Vautrin and would you like to know more about the work and its value? Our Experts will carry out a free appraisal of your miroir, provide you with an estimate of the market price, and help you to sell it at the best price.

Status, price and estimation of Designer Line VAUTRIN

Estimate for a Line Vautrin mirror (in perfect condition): €500 – €60,000

Price of a luminaire at auction: €1,000 – €20,000

Average estimate for a signed sculpture: 150 – 2,000€.

If you would like to have one of the artist’s furniture pieces appraised, our design experts are available for a free appraisal.

Who is Line Vautrin?

Line Vautrin, a revered 20th-century French artist once dubbed “the poetess of metal” by Vogue magazine, created inspiring work that the New York Times called “bold, brilliant, barbaric and intricately crafted”. Her vision and refined craftsmanship have resulted in highly original jewellery and decorative objects infused with her passion for language and symbology.

Self-taught training

Born in 1913 into a family of metalworkers, Vautrin had no formal art education, but this did not prevent her from mastering the techniques of casting, chasing and gilding bronze by the age of 14. Although bronze was then reserved only for industrial use, it remained Vautrin’s metal of choice as she began to create her gold and silver buttons, ornaments, compacts and boxes.

An artist and intellectual at a time when many young women were afraid of being more than conventional and bourgeois, Vautrin took a stand at the Paris International Exhibition in 1937, where she was successful enough to justify renting a small showroom. However, during the Second World War, when precious metals were scarce and Vautrin’s work in bronze allowed her to escape romance and pleasure, her popularity really took off.

An independent woman with influence

A few years later, Vautrin opened a progressive workshop in the Marais, as well as an exquisite boutique on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, where a statue of Saint Eligius, patron saint of goldsmiths, presides over the entrance. A frenzy of incessant innovation ensued, challenging all the traditional genres of the decorative arts.

The repetition of motifs – patterns and elements reminiscent of ancient hieroglyphs and pictograms – was influenced by Vautrin’s research into the work of ancient goldsmiths in the archaeological museums of Cairo. Folk tales, poetry verses and aphorisms all feed her intelligent imagination. She has made a name for herself through the fantasies and double entanglements she has superimposed on her beautiful pieces, and through her witty use of junk, complex visual puzzles in which words are represented by elaborate combinations of images and letters.

It is not surprising that these little miracles of creativity and ingenuity have been picked up by the likes of Diego Giacometti, Brigitte Bardot, Caroline of Monaco and Christian Lacroix. Vautrin’s reputation as an alchemist who can bring poetry out of metal is destined to last.

Appraise and sell a miroir by Line Vautrin

If you own a Line Vautrin miroir or any other sculpture, ask for a free estimate via our online form.

You will then be contacted by a member of our team of experts and auctioneers to give you an independent view of the market price of your painting. In the event of a sale, our specialists will also advise you on the various options available to sell your work at the best price.