5 things to know about François-Xavier Lalanne

One of the most important sculptors of the postwar era, François-Xavier Lalanne was as imaginative as he was revolutionary. During his long and prolific career, he worked in tandem with his wife, Claude, (the couple is collectively known as Les Lalanne), though each had an independent practice. Steeped in art history, François-Xavier frequently drew upon artists past and present to create a truly singular oeuvre, specialising in hybrid creatures where nature and Surrealism coalesce.

Endearing yet powerful, classical yet modern, Lalanne proved art can be both joyful and serious. Discover how he expertly balanced the two, in art and in life.

While Lalanne was known for his depictions of natural forms, especially animals, the artist’s vision went far beyond mere representation. With a foundational appreciation for the art of antiquity, Lalanne was also heavily inspired by Surrealism, giving rise to impossible forms combining traits from multiple animals and sometimes humans. In the 1960s and 1970s, audiences were stunned by Lalanne’s decidedly modern fantastical beasts, at once joyful and humorous, eerie and transgressive.

Many of the sculptures were functional. Sheep seats, ostrich bars and bird beds evoked the secret compartments of 17th- and 18th-century French decorative arts. This wholly original, masterful amalgamation is amongst the reasons Lalanne’s oeuvre continues to tantalise collectors more than a century after its debut.

Prior to meeting Claude in 1952, François-Xavier was primarily a painter. On 25 June 1964, the couple opened Zoophites, their debut joint exhibition, at Galerie J in Paris. François-Xavier exhibited one object — his first major sculpture — Rhinocrétaire I, whose metal abdomen housed an illuminated desk, bar and safe. In October 2023, Christie’s sold this monumental work for €18,355,000, setting the world auction record for François-Xavier Lalanne.

The artist’s choice to depict the rhinoceros follows a long line of artists who depicted the imposing animal, from Palaeolithic cave painters to Albrecht Dürer and Salvador Dalí. Lalanne worked as a guard at the Musée du Louvre from 1949 until 1950, where he spent hours studying Egyptian artefacts and other ancient forms, which had a profound influence on his sculpture.

A symbol of power, strength and resilience, the rhino has since become one of Lalanne’s most iconic motifs. A Petit Rhinocéros III, 1987 features as part of François-Xavier Lalanne, Sculpteur | Collection Dorothée Lalanne on 9 October at Christie’s in New York.

Constantin Brancusi, Max Ernst, Yves Klein, Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely were amongst the major artists that occupied Impasse Ronsin, which housed the studios of many avant-garde talents in Paris’s Montparnasse district from the late 19th century to early 1970s. Notoriously derelict, Impasse Ronsin was a hotbed for creative exchange during the 1950s and 1960s, when François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne lived and worked there.

Lalanne’s studio was beside that of Brancusi, who introduced the young artist to the Surrealist circle. Lalanne’s sculpture Génie de Bellerive, in which an owl perches atop an undulating pillar, pays homage to Ernst’s owl and Brancusi’s Endless Column, key motifs for the respective artists.

François-Xavier was a meticulous planner. His countless illustrations attest to his brilliant draughtsmanship, while his maquettes demonstrate the precision with which he prepared his sculptures. He was known to draw every day. The artist also sculpted at a range of scales, from larger-than-life animals to charming miniatures, and he would commonly title his works ‘petit’ or ‘grand’ to indicate their stature.

According to François-Xavier’s daughter Dorothée Lalanne, visitors to her father and Claude’s residence and studio enjoyed home-cooked meals like freshwater fish casserole, with ingredients straight from the artists’ vegetable garden.

In 1985 François-Xavier described the ‘Art of Cooking’: ‘In practical terms, it’s fire that differentiates us from animals, and it’s at this precise point that cooking comes into play. On the other hand, it’s the Art of Cooking that separates man from man, at the boundary between what’s necessary and what’s sufficient. For while it is necessary to eat in order not to starve, it is sufficient not to starve in order to prefer good things to bad ones. This art lies principally in the choice of ingredients, the order in which they are arranged and the modifications they undergo. Whatever the method, each has its own degree of excellence.’

Safe to say, Lalanne’s methodical nature extended from his art to his cuisine.