Mouton de Laine
| Mouton de Laine |
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| François-Xavier Lalanne , 1965 |
| Aluminum, wood and sheepskin |
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Mouton de Laine is one of the main works of the French artist François-Xavier Lalanne . The work, created in 1965, consists of 24 sheep made of aluminum, wood and sheepskin, which were designed as seating furniture. You stand in the border area between art and design object.
description
Lalanne initially created a single standing sheep as seating furniture from aluminum, wood and sheepskin. Soon he had the idea to create a whole flock of sheep. This flock of Un Troupeau de 24 Moutons sheep consisted of seven white sheep, one black sheep and 16 white grazing sheep . These so-called grazing sheep are sheep without a head - they are sheepskin-covered stools that only show the animals' feet. It seemed to Lalanne witty to bring country life to Paris with a whole flock of sheep in the living room. In addition, sheep sculptures are easier to handle than live sheep and they also serve a practical purpose as seating. Originally Lalanne had given the flock of sheep the title Pour Polypheme (German: For Polyphemus ). Polyphemus , a Cyclops from Greek mythology , plays an important role in the Odyssey of Homer . Polyphemus keeps Odysseus and his men trapped in a cave, from which they can finally escape - tied under the bellies of sheep. The title Mouton de Laine is a twist on the term Laine de Mouton ( sheep's wool ).
The Mouton de Laine showed Lalanne first time in 1965 in the exhibition Salon de la Jeune Peinture in Paris. The critic Otto Hahn wrote about the exhibition in the French magazine L'Express at the beginning of 1966 that there was nothing remarkable to be seen there, he only praised the flock of Lalanne sheep. In April 1966 Edouard Roditi wrote about Lalanne's flock of sheep in New York's Arts Magazine and compared this work with paintings by René Magritte . After the work Mouton de Laine was shown in the American magazine Life in 1967 , the flock of sheep gained international fame. Lalanne then had several series of these sheep produced and well-known personalities such as Gunter Sachs or Yves Saint Laurent decorated their apartments with these pieces of furniture . In 2014, a complete flock of Un Troupeau de 24 Moutons sheep fetched US $ 5,682,500 at Christie's auction house in New York. The group of works came from the collection of Edmund Carpenter and his wife Adelaide de Menil, daughter of Dominique de Ménil . The collector couple bought the flock of sheep in 1976 from Alexander Iolas' gallery .
literature
- Center national d'art contemporain (ed.): Les Lalanne . Exhibition catalog Center National d'Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Paris 1975.
- Daniel Marchesseau: The Lalannes . Flammarion, Paris 1998, ISBN 2-08-013652-6 .
- Daniel Abadie: Lalanne (s) . Flammarion, Paris 2008, ISBN 978-2-08-030071-3 .
Individual evidence
- ^ "Chic Sheep Don't Come Cheap: the Whimsical World of Les Lalanne" , A-Gent Of Style , November 11, 2013.
- ↑ Article about Mouton de Laine with a picture of a standing and a grazing sheep in Virginia Bohlin: Antiques & Collectibles: auction news of January 6, 2013 in The Boston Globe
- ↑ Daniel Marchesseau: The Lalanne , p. 36
- ↑ A wool sheep is called mouton à laine in French .
- ↑ Otto Hahn's exhibition review can be found in Daniel Abadie: Lalanne (s) , p. 298.
- ↑ Edouard Roditi's statement is reproduced in Daniel Abadie: Lalanne (s) , p. 298.
- ↑ Information on sales on the website www.christies.com.