For the 2024 edition of TEFAF New York, Galerie Mitterrand will present a selection of works by the artist couple Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, whom it has represented since its creation in 1988. Among this selection, we highlight three exceptional and unique works: L'Oiseau de jardin à bascule by François-Xavier Lalanne, a Choupatte and a Miroir Hortensia by Claude Lalanne.
François-Xavier Lalanne's 1974 masterpiece L'Oiseau de Jardin à bascule ingeniously transforms the shape of a sparrow into a rocking chair, the rocking movement itself becoming a metaphor for the hopping of a pecking bird. Unlike his later works in bronze, this sculpture is made from steel and copper plates cut and welded by the artist himself. The combination of these two materials, in shades of brown and silver, is naturally reminiscent of the bird's plumage. Acquired in 1974 by a Belgian collector, this work was first exhibited in the exhibition "Les Lalanne & Domesticated Beasts & Other Creatures" at the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. In 2010, it also featured in the Lalanne retrospective at the Musée des Art Décoratifs in Paris.
The Choupatte (1969-1970), exhibited at TEFAF, is one of Claude Lalanne's earlier works. This famous and undeniably surreal sculpture is the artist's most virtuoso expression of the use of the galvanoplasty technique, in which cabbage leaves are immersed in an electrolytic bath to obtain copper imprints. The very first Choupatte was presented at the artists' first exhibition at Jeanine Restany's Galerie J in 1964. A few years later, Claude Lalanne produced this iteration for her gallerist Alexandre Iolas, and it was acquired by an American collection.
Finally, the Miroir Hortensia (2009) is a unique work that testifies to Claude Lalanne's ornamental and decorative genius. Created for one of the couple's friends, this large-scale mirror brings together a rare array of motifs used by Claude Lalanne: candlesticks, birds, a butterfly, leaves and even hydrangea flowers. The combination of these motifs had never been seen in on of Claude Lalanne’s mirrors.
These exceptional works will be accompanied by other unmissable pieces such as the Singe Alternatif, the Singe Allumé by François-Xavier and a Crococurule by Claude Lalanne.
