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Lot Essay
“Under the dark yews which shade them,
The owl are perched in rows,
Like so many strange gods,
Darting their red eyes. They meditate.
Their attitude teaches the wise
That in this world one must fear
Movement and commotion”
Charles Baudelaire, Owls, in Flowers of Evil
Influenced by Surrealism and by the animal kingdom, François-Xavier Lalanne’s sculptures turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. “He was someone with references beyond our era,” recalled gallerist Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand. “His work had something of the Renaissance and ancient Greece and Rome. He admired Nicolas Poussin and Bach. There was a surrealistic touch in the way he transformed sculpture into everyday objects” (quoted in R. Murphy, “Obituary: French Artist François-Xavier Lalanne,” Women’s Wear Daily, 9 December 2008).
Lalanne’s Chouette de Tourtour, staring at her viewer with a pair of large, round eyes, perched on her hooves, is a graceful and impressive work, a rendition that embodies all the natural beauty, power and mystery of this wild bird. Lalanne designed this model in 1969 for Annette Grüner-Schlumberger’s house, which later became the Foundation des Trelles, in Tourtour. She was introduced to the artist by Alexandre Iolas, along with Surrealist artists such as Marx Ernst and William Copley. Titled as the “Owl of Tourtour”, Lalanne’s work is likely inspired by the solitary nocturnal bird, the “chouette effraie” (barn owl) that can be found in the South of France. A charming Medieval village, Tourtour overlooks a large part of the of the Provence near Mont Sainte-Victoire and has been called “the village in the sky of Provence”. Painter Bernard Buffet had his studio in Tourtour, where he died, and he also made the owl one of his favored subjects.
Lalanne’s Chouette de Tourtour, staring at her viewer with a pair of large, round eyes, perched on her hooves, is a graceful and impressive work, a rendition that embodies all the natural beauty, power and mystery of this wild bird. Lalanne designed this model in 1969 for Annette Grüner-Schlumberger’s house, which later became the Foundation des Trelles, in Tourtour. She was introduced to the artist by Alexandre Iolas, along with Surrealist artists such as Marx Ernst and William Copley. Titled as the “Owl of Tourtour”, Lalanne’s work is likely inspired by the solitary nocturnal bird, the “chouette effraie” (barn owl) that can be found in the South of France. A charming Medieval village, Tourtour overlooks a large part of the of the Provence near Mont Sainte-Victoire and has been called “the village in the sky of Provence”. Painter Bernard Buffet had his studio in Tourtour, where he died, and he also made the owl one of his favored subjects.
In his Chouette de Tourtour, François-Xavier Lalanne has captured the inherent characteristics of the bird—a smoothly rounded head, without ear tufts—along with adding some surprising flourishes of his own, such as the goat-like hoofs and long tail, which add personality and mystery to the work and refers to its earliest symbolic meanings: its large pupils and penetrating look allows it to see in the dark, making it the symbol of knowledge and philosophy. In Ancient Egypt, owls were honored for their keen sight, as guardians of the underworld and protectors of the dead, and the owl symbol stood for letter M in the hieroglyphic system, illustrated by scribes facing forward. In Greek mythology, the owl represented Athena, the Virgin goddess of wisdom and patron of Athens. In Roman mythology, it was adopted by Minerva as her sacred bird and described by poets as an ill-omened creature, sometimes seen as the harbinger of death, or whose feathers, if placed near someone sleeping could prompt them to reveal their secrets. In the Middle-Ages, it gained a sinister reputation and was associated with witches and demons. The owl has been depicted in art for millennia: from the famous Athenian tetradrachm, medieval illuminated manuscripts, Albrecht Dürer’s Little Owl, Diego Giacometti’s Hiboux, Pablo Picasso’s Chouette ceramics… this ghostly predator has inspired artists for generations.
Lalanne trained as a painter at the Académie Julian in Paris, but in 1952 abandoned easel painting to focus on sculptural forms. In his youth, he worked as a security guard at the Louvre, in the Egyptian section of the Assyrian department. After he met Claude Lalanne, the couple moved into a small studio on the Impasse Ronsin in Montparnasse where they lived and worked in close proximity with artists such as Constantin Brancusi, Max Ernst and René Magritte amongst others. Shortly after Brancusi’s death in 1957, the studios in the Impasse Ronsin were demolished and the Lalannes moved into a new studio on the Impasse Robiquet. It was there, using a welding machine bought jointly with Jean Tinguely, that François-Xavier Lalanne developed some of his first real sculptures. Chouette de Tourtour’s meticulously constructed body, apparently simplified with its visible weld lines, demonstrates Lalanne’s mastery of metalwork techniques and genius to instill spirit into bronze.
Through its silent immobility, Lalanne’s Chouette exudes knowledge and wisdom, while its hooves and curious tail may be reminiscent of the phantasmagoric and evil gargoyles that ornamented medieval cathedrals. With its impressive silhouette and penetrating look, Chouette de Tourtour is a striking example of Lalanne’s oeuvre: a powerful and mysterious divinity, it still retains the wit and charm for which the artist is so celebrated.
The owl are perched in rows,
Like so many strange gods,
Darting their red eyes. They meditate.
Their attitude teaches the wise
That in this world one must fear
Movement and commotion”
Charles Baudelaire, Owls, in Flowers of Evil
Influenced by Surrealism and by the animal kingdom, François-Xavier Lalanne’s sculptures turn the ordinary into the extraordinary. “He was someone with references beyond our era,” recalled gallerist Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand. “His work had something of the Renaissance and ancient Greece and Rome. He admired Nicolas Poussin and Bach. There was a surrealistic touch in the way he transformed sculpture into everyday objects” (quoted in R. Murphy, “Obituary: French Artist François-Xavier Lalanne,” Women’s Wear Daily, 9 December 2008).
Lalanne’s Chouette de Tourtour, staring at her viewer with a pair of large, round eyes, perched on her hooves, is a graceful and impressive work, a rendition that embodies all the natural beauty, power and mystery of this wild bird. Lalanne designed this model in 1969 for Annette Grüner-Schlumberger’s house, which later became the Foundation des Trelles, in Tourtour. She was introduced to the artist by Alexandre Iolas, along with Surrealist artists such as Marx Ernst and William Copley. Titled as the “Owl of Tourtour”, Lalanne’s work is likely inspired by the solitary nocturnal bird, the “chouette effraie” (barn owl) that can be found in the South of France. A charming Medieval village, Tourtour overlooks a large part of the of the Provence near Mont Sainte-Victoire and has been called “the village in the sky of Provence”. Painter Bernard Buffet had his studio in Tourtour, where he died, and he also made the owl one of his favored subjects.
Lalanne’s Chouette de Tourtour, staring at her viewer with a pair of large, round eyes, perched on her hooves, is a graceful and impressive work, a rendition that embodies all the natural beauty, power and mystery of this wild bird. Lalanne designed this model in 1969 for Annette Grüner-Schlumberger’s house, which later became the Foundation des Trelles, in Tourtour. She was introduced to the artist by Alexandre Iolas, along with Surrealist artists such as Marx Ernst and William Copley. Titled as the “Owl of Tourtour”, Lalanne’s work is likely inspired by the solitary nocturnal bird, the “chouette effraie” (barn owl) that can be found in the South of France. A charming Medieval village, Tourtour overlooks a large part of the of the Provence near Mont Sainte-Victoire and has been called “the village in the sky of Provence”. Painter Bernard Buffet had his studio in Tourtour, where he died, and he also made the owl one of his favored subjects.
In his Chouette de Tourtour, François-Xavier Lalanne has captured the inherent characteristics of the bird—a smoothly rounded head, without ear tufts—along with adding some surprising flourishes of his own, such as the goat-like hoofs and long tail, which add personality and mystery to the work and refers to its earliest symbolic meanings: its large pupils and penetrating look allows it to see in the dark, making it the symbol of knowledge and philosophy. In Ancient Egypt, owls were honored for their keen sight, as guardians of the underworld and protectors of the dead, and the owl symbol stood for letter M in the hieroglyphic system, illustrated by scribes facing forward. In Greek mythology, the owl represented Athena, the Virgin goddess of wisdom and patron of Athens. In Roman mythology, it was adopted by Minerva as her sacred bird and described by poets as an ill-omened creature, sometimes seen as the harbinger of death, or whose feathers, if placed near someone sleeping could prompt them to reveal their secrets. In the Middle-Ages, it gained a sinister reputation and was associated with witches and demons. The owl has been depicted in art for millennia: from the famous Athenian tetradrachm, medieval illuminated manuscripts, Albrecht Dürer’s Little Owl, Diego Giacometti’s Hiboux, Pablo Picasso’s Chouette ceramics… this ghostly predator has inspired artists for generations.
Lalanne trained as a painter at the Académie Julian in Paris, but in 1952 abandoned easel painting to focus on sculptural forms. In his youth, he worked as a security guard at the Louvre, in the Egyptian section of the Assyrian department. After he met Claude Lalanne, the couple moved into a small studio on the Impasse Ronsin in Montparnasse where they lived and worked in close proximity with artists such as Constantin Brancusi, Max Ernst and René Magritte amongst others. Shortly after Brancusi’s death in 1957, the studios in the Impasse Ronsin were demolished and the Lalannes moved into a new studio on the Impasse Robiquet. It was there, using a welding machine bought jointly with Jean Tinguely, that François-Xavier Lalanne developed some of his first real sculptures. Chouette de Tourtour’s meticulously constructed body, apparently simplified with its visible weld lines, demonstrates Lalanne’s mastery of metalwork techniques and genius to instill spirit into bronze.
Through its silent immobility, Lalanne’s Chouette exudes knowledge and wisdom, while its hooves and curious tail may be reminiscent of the phantasmagoric and evil gargoyles that ornamented medieval cathedrals. With its impressive silhouette and penetrating look, Chouette de Tourtour is a striking example of Lalanne’s oeuvre: a powerful and mysterious divinity, it still retains the wit and charm for which the artist is so celebrated.