Alphonse Bellier (July 21, 1886 – November 1, 1980) was a French auctioneer specializing in the sale of art collections.

Biography

The son of a baker from Saint-Nazaire, Alphonse Louis Marie Bellier came to Paris in 1918 and began his career as a notary, before becoming an auctioneer on March 27, 1920. In Paris, he held office No. 66 of the Chambre des commissaires-priseurs judiciaires de la Seine until November 7, 1958. His main place of work was the Hôtel Drouot, where he conducted a large number of art sales. He surrounded himself with experts such as Jos Hessel, André Schoeller (1879-1955), Jacques Mathey and Robert Lebel, for sales of paintings and drawings. He is in contact with private collectors and museum institutions.

Auctioneer of looted art during the German occupation

During the Occupation, Bellier organized over 250 sales for the Hôtel Drouot auction house between 1941 and 1944. His sales were mainly of objets d'art, but also of everyday furniture and jewelry. Some of them involved collections plundered from Jews, which were widely advertised in the press.[1] Historians and looted art scholars are currently conducting research into the extent of Bellier's involvement in laundering art looted from Jewish or extracted from them in forced sales under the Nazi occupation.[2][3][4]

Postwar

Bellier continued to work as an auctioneer after the Libération. He was the defendant in two trials, one involving Jean Bloch for a sale that took place on December 11 1941, and another initiated by the Fabius family concerning the forced sale in 1942 of the stock for the art gallery of Élie Fabius.[5][6][7]

He died in Paris on November 1, 1980.

See also

Occupied France

Notes and references

  1. ↑ AGORHA; Répertoire des acteurs du marché de l'art en France sous l'Occupation, 1940-1945, RAMA; AGORHA - Bases de données de l'Institut national d'histoire de l'art (2023-04-03). Bellier, Alphonse.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ "Un nouveau répertoire pour identifier les réseaux du marché de l'art sous l'Occupation". www.lootedart.com. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
  3. ↑ ""À qui appartenaient ces tableaux ?" Spoliations, restitutions et recherche de provenance : le sort des œuvres d'art revenues d'Allemagne après la guerre" (PDF). LootedArt.com.
  4. ↑ "BELLIER Alphonse Louis Marie (FR)". agorha.inha.fr (in French). Retrieved 2023-10-13.
  5. ↑ Élie (1864-1942), Fabius. "Fonds Fabius. Sous-fonds Élie Fabius (Archives 131)". FranceArchives (in French). Retrieved 2023-10-13.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Polack, Emmanuelle (2019). Le marché de l'art sous l'Occupation: 1940-1944. Paris: Tallandier. ISBN 979-10-210-2089-4.
  7. ↑ "office 66, Bellier, procès-verbaux de ventes, D149E3/15". archive.wikiwix.com. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
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