François-Xavier Lalanne - Important Design London Wednesday, April 25, 2018 | Phillips

Important Design

London Auction 26 April 2018

  • Provenance

    Private collection, Belgium, early 1990s
    Thence by descent to the present owner

  • Literature

    Edouard Roditi, 'Paris: the Winter's High Jinks', Arts Magazine, April 1966, p. 51
    Jean Cau, 'Lalanne, une imagination en délire un bon sens colossal', Vogue Paris, April 1966, pp. 148-49
    'La Façon actuelle de voir les objets anciens', Connaissance des Arts, no. 223, September 1970, p. 67
    John Russell, Les Lalanne, exh. cat., Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 1975, p. 10
    Robert Rosenblum, Les Lalannes, exh. cat., Château de Chenonceau, 1991, pp. 57, 97, 99
    Daniel Marchesseau, Les Lalannes, 1998, pp. 36, 41, 58-59
    Daniel Abadie, Lalanne(s), Paris, 2008, pp. 194-95, 231
    Daniel Marchesseau, Les Lalannes, exh. cat., Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 2010, pp. 40-41

  • Catalogue Essay

    Phillips wishes to thank Mrs Claude Lalanne for her assistance with the cataloguing of the present lot.

    Lalanne was inspired by naturalistic animal forms and his first flock of sheep titled Pour Polyphème, were submitted to the Salon de la Jeune Peinture in 1966. In reference to his exhibit Lalanne commented: 'If you come with a snail as big as a thumb, nobody notices; you have to go with something immodest and slightly embarrassing' (Daniel Marchesseau, Les Lalannes, exh. cat., Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 2010, p. 36). Pour Polyphème was destined to constitute a precedent for the rest of the artist prolific career. From this moment onwards his work evoked the spirit of the Surrealist philosophy and became recognisable for its iconic absurdity. François-Xavier Lalanne wrote: 'If there exists a planet where plants moved on feet, you might see grass run off at the approach of a cow. Unless on that particular planet, animals where rooted to the spot the way oysters are stuck to their rock. Suddenly the immobile would seize the mobile, turning plants into meat-eaters. Thus animal would be vegetable. Ultimately we just might be living on some other planet' (Daniel Abadie, Lalanne(s), Paris, 2008, p. 326).

51

François-Xavier Lalanne

'Mouton'

circa 1992
Patinated bronze, sheep skin, brass.
83.5 x 45 x 95 cm (32 7/8 x 17 3/4 x 37 3/8 in.)
Head impressed 7-92/LALANNE/FXL and underside FXL.

Estimate
£150,000 - 200,000 

Sold for £477,000

Contact Specialist
Madalena Horta e Costa
Head of Sale
+44 20 7318 4019

Important Design

London Auction 26 April 2018