Hamptons Fine Art Fair

As a highly respected purveyor of fine antiques, art, and important jewelry, Bill Rau knows exactly what the luxury client has on their wish list. Rau is the owner of M.S. Rau, the iconic antique store on New Orleans’ fabled Royal Street, where you feel like you’re shopping in a museum. Rau staged a stunning exhibition at the Hamptons Fine Art Fair, bringing with him one of the most impressive collections of fine art and jewelry in the country. Having taken part in last year’s successful fair, Rau returned this year with treasures that beguiled and proved irresistible to the well-heeled and discerning collectors.

Picasso, Monet, Renoir, and Rare Jewels

Before the fair, Rau expressed pride and excitement about the pieces that would be presented. “We are bringing high-value jewelry and rare fine art, including some really powerful impressionist and old master paintings that will astound,” says Rau. “We bought a couple of important collections, which brought us a Picasso, an incredible Monet, an extraordinary Renoir, and a Matisse that is just utterly amazing. We have these masterworks as part of nearly 60 that we will show, and then there is the jewelry. We were fortunate enough to acquire some exceptional objects from a collector, which include stones that never, ever come to the market and are the best of their type. Our jewelry will be captivating and enticing to that client looking for something unique and showstopping.”

Knowing that there is an expanding market for rare gems, Rau was wise to bring those with marquee appeal. “We have two really important gemstones, a ten-carat blue diamond, and a ten-carat pink diamond. We were also able to get pieces that had not been on the market in 20 or 30 years. Jewelry prices have done so well over the years, especially for colored gems. It is a very smart investment at this time.” Among the most notable stones Rau presented was a 37-carat cushion-cut Brazilian Paraiba, a stone that is currently in high demand and which Rau describes as “the best Paraíba in the world” for its beauty, clarity, and depth of color.

An Extraordinary Matisse

The Hamptons Fine Art Fair just completed its fourth year, and it has already attained a reputation for amassing the most impressive art on the market. This year was even more stellar for the level of world-renowned masterworks that were in attendance, including a group from Rau’s New Orleans gallery. One painting had never been for sale in the art market and was on the shortlist for every serious collector who attended. “The Matisse is a rarity that we bought directly from the Matisse family,” says Rau. “It has never been on the market, and is in the top 3% of all Matisses, size-wise. Not all paintings by Matisse were signed, but this is signed, and it was painted during an important period during World War I, after he escapes Paris in 1917 and goes to Nice, to be further away from the fighting. In Nice, Matisse stayed with Renoir, who at first did not like him and thought Matisse was just a wannabe artist. Then, when Renoir saw what Matisse was doing with light and color, Renoir was amazed and had nothing but the most complimentary words for him. And that was about the time Matisse broke through.

“In 1952, MoMA in New York did a retrospective of Matisse’s work. They took the very best paintings from around the world, and it just blew people away. The painting we have for sale was in that exhibition. So, you have this giant painting direct from the family, and in perfect condition, unlined—the great majority of them that are over 100 years old are lined. I’m not even sure that anything could be any better than this piece staying in the Matisse family all these years, where it was cherished and protected. To finally come to market now is extraordinary in the art world, and now, it is among the most valuable.”

Family-Owned Business, Founded in 1912

Rau’s gallery, M.S. Rau, has become an institution in New Orleans and a magnet for serious collectors throughout the world, having been in business since 1912. They specialize in museum-quality art and antiques, as well as fine jewelry of unsurpassable craftsmanship. What Rau brought to show at the Hamptons Fine Art Fair was a curated selection in alignment with the tastes of the cognoscenti, whose preferences for distinctive, prestigious pieces drive local attendance and beckon art enthusiasts from many countries. rauantiques.com