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Artworks
François-Xavier Lalanne France, 1927-2008
Singe attablé Low Table, 2002Patinated bronze and glass48.5 by 55.7 by 52 cm (19⅛ by 21⅞ by 20½ in.)Inscribed with the artist's monogram 'FxL' and numbered 'EA 4/4 A' (on the right foot) and with the foundry mark 'bocquel fd.'66570© 2021 Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York /ADAGP, Paris$1,100,000Further images
Conceived in 2002 and cast by Bocquel Fondeur in an edition of 8 plus 4 artist's proofs. The present work is artist proof 4A from the edition. Singe attablé is...Conceived in 2002 and cast by Bocquel Fondeur in an edition of 8 plus 4 artist's proofs. The present work is artist proof 4A from the edition. Singe attablé is a playful example of François-Xavier Lalanne’s determination to unite art and function in a uniquely whimsical style. While his wife and collaborator, Claude, favored the botanical kingdom, François-Xavier typically drew on the zoological world as inspiration for his subject matter. In the present work, a bronze seated monkey, toes intertwined, supports a glass tabletop above its head, recalling Atlas bearing the celestial heavens. The animal’s stylized features and smooth finish reveal the lasting influence on the artist’s aesthetic of ancient Egyptian and Assyrian art—which he encountered while working as an attendant at the Louvre—as well as the seminal style of modernist sculptor Constantin Brancusi, his neighbor in Paris. The title, a clever double entendre, alludes to both the act of sitting down at the table and to the artist’s brilliant transformation of the impish simian into the table itself.Provenance
Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York
Private Collection (acquired from the above; sale: Christie's Online, July 31, 2020, lot 7)
Private CollectionLiterature
Exhibition Catalogue: New York, Paul Kasmin and London, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Claude & François-Xavier Lalanne, 2006-07, illustrated p. 107 (another example illustrated in a photograph)
Exhibition Catalogue: New York, S2, Les Lalanne: The Poetry of Sculpture, 2013, illustrated in color p. 77 (another example illustrated)2of 2
