Les Lalanne (sometimes translated as "The Lalannes" in English) is the term for the French artist team of François-Xavier Lalanne (1927–2008) and Claude Lalanne (1924–2019).

Biographies

Francois-Xavier Lalanne was born in Agen, France, and received a

Jesuit education The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

. At age 18, he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and studied sculpture, drawing and painting at

Académie Julian The () was a private art school for painting and sculpture founded in Paris, France, in 1867 by French painter and teacher Rodolphe Julian (1839–1907). The school was active from 1868 through 1968. It remained famous for the number and qual ...

. In 1948 Lalanne worked as an attendant at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

in the Oriental Antiques section. Francois-Xavier rented a studio in

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. It is split betwee ...

, next door to friend

Constantin Brâncuși Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian sculptor, painter, and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th century and a pioneer of modernism ...

, after completing mandatory military service. Brâncuși introduced Lalanne to artists such as

Max Ernst Max Ernst (; 2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German-born painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and surrealism in Europe. He had no formal artistic trai ...

Man Ray Man Ray (born Emmanuel Radnitzky; August 27, 1890 – November 18, 1976) was an American naturalized French visual artist who spent most of his career in Paris. He was a significant contributor to the Dada and Surrealism, Surrealist movements, ...

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, ; ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, Futurism and conceptual art. He is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Pica ...

, and

Jean Tinguely Jean Tinguely (22 May 1925 – 30 August 1991) was a Swiss sculptor best known for his kinetic art sculptural machines (known officially as Métamatics) that extended the Dada tradition into the later part of the 20th century.Chilvers, Ian; Gl ...

. He met Claude Lalanne at his first gallery show in 1952. The show signified an end of painting for François-Xavier as he and his wife Claude began their career sculpting together. Claude Lalanne became known to the larger public in France in 1976 when the singer

Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...

selected one of her works, "The man with the head of a cabbage", for the title and cover of an album of his. In 1983 Lalanne was commissioned by the French Ministry of Culture to design new monumental fountains for the square in front of the

Hôtel de Ville, Paris The (, ''City hall (administration), City Hall'') is the city hall of Paris, France, standing on the in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, 4th arrondissement. The south wing was originally constructed by Francis I of France, Francis I beginning ...

, and also to design gardens for the reconstructed

Les Halles Les Halles (; 'The Halls') was Paris' central fresh food market. It last operated on 12 January 1973 and was replaced by an underground shopping centre and a park. The unpopular modernist development was demolished yet again in 2010, and replac ...

in the center of Paris. Claude Lalanne (1924–2019) was born in Paris and studied architecture at the

École des Beaux-Arts ; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...

and at the

École des Arts Décoratifs École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

. She involved herself in the artist community in Impasse Ronsin, Montparnasse, Paris and became friends with American artists

Larry Rivers Larry Rivers (born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg; August 17, 1923 – August 14, 2002) was an American painter, musician, filmmaker, and occasional actor. Considered by many scholars to be the "Godfather" and "Grandfather" of Pop art, he was on ...

and Jimmy Metcalf who helped her develop the art of

electroplating Electroplating, also known as electrochemical deposition or electrodeposition, is a process for producing a metal coating on a solid substrate through the redox, reduction of cations of that metal by means of a direct current, direct electric cur ...

. Since 1988, Les Lalannes worked closely with Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand who has represented them in the Mitterrand Galerie in Paris. Les Lalanne are represented by the

Paul Kasmin Gallery The Kasmin Gallery, formerly known as the Paul Kasmin Gallery, is a New York City fine art gallery, founded in SoHo in 1989. History The gallery was founded by its namesake as the Paul Kasmin Gallery in 1989 and was initially housed at 74 Grand ...

in New York City and Ben Brown Fine Arts in London.

Artworks and exhibitions

The themes explored by the two collectively went against the current trend of Abstract art in the 1960s. The couple believed and Francois-Xavier claimed, "the supreme art is the art of living". The couple began attracting public attention in Paris during the 1960s when Yves Saint Laurent and

Pierre Bergé Pierre Vital Georges Bergé (; 14 November 1930 – 8 September 2017) was a French industrialist and patron. He co-founded the fashion label Yves Saint Laurent (YSL), and was a longtime business partner—and onetime significant other—of its ...

commissioned them. In particular, Francois-Xavier's realistic bronze cast sheep covered in skin alongside lily vanes cast by Claude were displayed in the library of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. Their first exhibition together included Francois-Xavier's famous rhinoceros desk, ''Rhinocrétaire'', and Claude's cabbage with chicken legs sculpture. Similar themes by Les Lalanne have classified their works as an ode to Surrealism and Art Nouveau. Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne were known to co-create on projects rather than collaborate. While François-Xavier favored sculpting animal themes, Claude preferred vegetation. These themes are paired in their 1989 public art installation of

topiary Topiary is the horticultural practice of training perennial plants by clipping the foliage and twigs of trees, shrubs and subshrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes, whether geometric or fanciful. The term also refers to plants w ...

fountains for the City of

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

Third Street Promenade The Third Street Promenade is a pedestrian mall esplanade, shopping, dining and entertainment complex in the downtown area of Santa Monica, California which originally opened as the Santa Monica Mall on November 8, 1965. It is considered a premi ...

entitled '' The Dinosaurs of Santa Monica'', where six tall topiary dinosaurs spew jets of water. In the 21st century, the works of Les Lalanne have been exhibited in different venues in New York City. In 2009, the artist duo participated in "

Park Avenue Park Avenue is a boulevard in New York City that carries north and southbound traffic in the borough (New York City), boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. For most of the road's length in Manhattan, it runs parallel to Madison Avenue to the wes ...

Recession Art", an effort developed by the Paul Kasmin Gallery, the

New York City Parks Department The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

’s public-art division, and the Fund for Park Avenue Sculpture Committee. The project comprised a series of sculptures in between crosswalks on Park Avenue. The featured pieces were a bronze apple called ''Pomme de New York'' on 52nd Street, ''Moutons'' on 53rd Street, ''Choupatte (Très Grand)'' on 56th Street, and ''Singe Avisé (Très Grand)'' on 58th Street, which was François-Xavier's last sculpture. In late 2013, Mr. Lalanne's sheep were the inaugural public installation of ''Getty Station'', a former gas service station conceived by real estate developer and art collector Michael Shvo in Manhattan's Chelsea district, to much fanfare.

Selected press

Kinsella, Eileen, "Sotheby's Boosts Private S, 2 Sales With London Hires, NYC Lalanne Show", ''Artinfo'', 10/7/13.

* [http://www.architecturaldigest.com/blogs/daily/2013/09/sheep-station-getty-francois-xavier-lalanne-michael-shvo-paul-kasmin Cochran, Samuel, "François-Xavier Lalanne's ''Mouton'' Sculptures Go On View at 'Sheep Station'", ''Architectural Digest'', 9/18/13.]
Grey, Tobias, "Next to Nature, Art", ''The Wall Street Journal'', 6/20/13.

References

{{ACArt 20th-century French sculptors 21st-century French sculptors French male sculptors Académie Julian alumni People from Agen Artists from Paris