François-Xavier Lalanne - Design London Wednesday, April 26, 2023 | Phillips

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  • The ‘Grand Bouquetin’ is an important and integral part of François-Xavier Lalanne’s fantastical bestiary, which was conceived in the 1960s. The ensuing life-long oeuvre now places François-Xavier Lalanne amongst the most important animaliers in the Western World since the Middle Ages, following in the steps of the greatest masters who over the years have used the imagery of animals to convey subliminal messages in their work to the viewer.

     

    The Genesis: Le mouton du Petit Prince?

     

    In 1966, when François-Xavier Lalanne designed his first sheep, could the sentence written by Saint Exupéry some twenty-two years earlier, “S’il te plait, dessine-moi un mouton”, expressed by the “extraordinary little fellow" that was the Little Prince, have been on his mind? The narrator of that tale, who only knows how to draw snakes, sketches a sheep but outlines it badly. He then redraws it with ram horns but ultimately designs a crate containing a tiny sheep. This last drawing fully satisfies the Little Prince who imagines the box to contain the animal of his dreams. This classic story of a sheep that removes baobab tree shoots invading the planet can be seen to fittingly characterise François-Xavier Lalanne’s surrealist spirit. The artist was close to the animal sculptor François Pompon and an admirer of Constantin Brancusi. In his own oeuvre, Lalanne emulated the simplified lines and polished surfaces of the former along with the tension of forms and the link between object and space of the latter.

     

    In the mid-1960s, François-Xavier Lalanne imagined a herd of twenty-four sheep which function as stools when apart and form a long bench when united. These hieratic animals covered in dense wool oscillate between their status as a utilitarian object and a sculpture. As art critic Daniel Abadie aptly explains in his book Lalanne(s), “François-Xavier Lalanne’s proposed title – ‘Pour Polyphème’- clearly underlined that the artist’s intention for these works was, under the guise of sheep, to smuggle a wolf into the sheepfold of the self-righteous political painting themes that pervaded the Salon de la Jeune Peinture at that time". Indeed, this sheep-bench conceals the ewes, which allow Odysseus and his companions to flee from the blind cyclops’ cave. They symbolised the return of figurative art, which challenged the contemporary advocates of abstraction and invaded the interiors and gardens of collectors. They can also be found in the Lycée d’enseignement professionnel at Agen-Foulayronnes, in the ethnography room of the Musée de la Vallée in Barcelonnette, at the Château de Chenonceau, in the park of Trianon and the Folie de Bagatelle.

     

    The ‘Grand Bouquetin’: A mythical animal joins Lalanne’s ark

     

    Over time, François-Xavier Lalanne continued to bring an entire family of animals to life. The epoxy stone ‘Mouton de Pierre’ emerged in 1979 and the ‘Mouton Transhumant’ in 1988. These sheep later morphed into an alpine ibex with ringed horns. Developing this theme further, he also imagined a great alpine ibex, the ‘Grand Bouquetin’ in 1999, in patinated or gilded bronze. The body of this extraordinary example is gracefully elongated. In another elegant iteration, its head is mirrored on the opposite side of the body to support the glass top of a console table.  The present ‘Grand Bouquetin’ stands out for its dynamic silhouette with an impressive head turned backwards and curved horns extending forwards. Its pricked ears and finely outlined almond-shaped eyes are reminiscent of Egyptian profiles. The nostrils are subtly delineated, its mouth is represented by a simple horizontal line and its profile ends in an amusing goatee, jutting out like a comma. The rest of the body is defined and rounded like a pommel horse, ending with a small tail atop the hind legs. Nimble legs recall the animal's ability to leap in the mountains, leaning his hooves on the slightest protrusion. This agile ibex recalls the German Steinbock, the Occitan boc, and the steady-footed mountain goat.

     


    Caravaggio, St John the Baptist (Youth with Ram), 1602, The Capitoline Museums, Rome.
    © Scala, Florence

    Contemporary, yet anchored in tradition

     

    Lalanne’s representation, however, is far from naturalistic. The artist chooses not to show the horn’s growth lines, which typically reveal the age of an adult male. He concentrates instead on their nodules which punctuate the two formidable scimitars. While a lightly hatched surface suggests the texture of the ibex’s fur, here Lalanne refrains from referencing the coat’s colours, unlike in the representation of his dark-spotted leopard. Reminiscent of his master, the sculptor Pompon, he conveys the ‘Grand Bouquetin’s character thanks to striking details which places it definitively in the long litany of creatures that punctuate the history of art and are as much a symbol of sacrifice as they are reassuring and playful images: the Lamb of God enthroned at the centre of the polyptych by the Van Eyck brothers (1432), Youth with a Ram by Caravaggio (1602), the sacrificed lamb of Zurbaran’s Agnus Dei (1635-1640), followed by the more true-to-life sheep of Jean-François Millet's Shepherdess (1863) and those of the Pyrenees by Rosa Bonheur (1864), ending with the allegories of war with Picasso's Goat's skull on the Table (1945) and the poignant sheep in formaldehyde by Damien Hirst (1995). Throughout his career, François-Xavier Lalanne, independently or together with his wife Claude, created a true menagerie which includes fish and birds as well as mammals of all kinds. A rabbit with a fish tail, a minotaur, a gorilla, a boar-topiary, a formidable cow. This collective bestiary features characters fit for a fantastical tale. The ‘Grand Bouquetin’, who briskly turns his head as if surprised by an unexpected sound can thus stand on par with the March Hare and the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland.

     

    Phillips wishes to thank Guy Boyer, Editor of Connaissance des Arts for his contribution to this catalogue.

    • Provenance

      François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne, Ury
      Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2008

    • Literature

      Paul Kasmin, Claude & François-Xavier Lalanne, New York, 2012, n.p.

39

'Grand Bouquetin'

1999
Patinated bronze.
100.7 x 135 x 26.8 cm (39 5/8 x 53 1/8 x 10 1/2 in.)
Produced by Fonderie d'Art Bocquel, Grainville-Ymauville, France. Number 1 from the edition of 8. Proper right front hoof impressed 1/8 and incised fxL. Proper back left hoof incised with foundry mark bocquel Fd.

Full Cataloguing

Estimate
£500,000 - 700,000 ‡♠

Sold for £1,112,800

Contact Specialist

Antonia King
Head of Sale, Design
+44 20 7901 7944
Antonia.King@phillips.com

Design

London Auction 26 April 2023