Claude et François-Xavier Lalanne: Lalanne

Partners since the 1980's, JGM. Gallery will present a selection of mostly exclusive works by both artists. Claude Lalanne will exhibit some recent sculptures that show her great creative energy, including an impressive monumental sculpture, the Femme du Crocodile, a table combining both Lotus leaves and Monkeys and a surprising Monkey Shower. François-Xavier Lalanne will be represented by a series of his works entitled Histoires Naturelles, a remarkable "ensemble" of bronze and molten glass shown for the first time in their entirety, or an iconic piece never exhibited at the gallery, the Lapin Polymorphe.

The excellent auction results from Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé's collection in 2009 followed by their retrospective exhibition at the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris in 2010 (curated by Peter Marino) proved Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne's ever flourishing success.

In Daniel Abadie's book dedicated to the Lalannes (Editions Flammarion, 2008), he writes: "the work of Claude Lalanne, like that of François-Xavier Lalanne, clearly possesses its specific identity behind the shared signature. There is no possible confusion between their highly different approaches to sculpture : Claude casts and assembles, while François-Xavier draws and constructs ; or between their individual worlds : organic and baroque for her, classical and architectural for him. And yet in the eyes of the general public, their unified signature has long made their works inseparable, as though cast form a single mold."

Claude, born in 1925, and François-Xavier Lalanne (1927 - 2008) began working together in 1952. Claude Lalanne's works are produced using techniques taken from imprint, casting and electrotyping; we owe her the more intimate and more baroque pieces. François-Xavier's, on the other hand, explore some mischievous bestiary underlying a hieratic attitude, inscribing the shape of his sculptures to the likes of ancient Egypt, Pompon and Brancusi, who was his studio neighbour in Montparnasse. The Lalannes have always shared the feeling that sculpture, and works of art more generally, can be functional. During the whole of their career, they have tried to bring back the idea that sculptures could have a more familiar place with possible functionalities, having been idolized for too long. They have used nature and animals more particularly,  a theme that offered a wide range of shapes appreciated by all, with a lot of humour and have exposed them to the constraints of decorative art. Their works can be found today in the most prestigious private and public collections of the world.