CLAUDE LALANNE | OLYMPE

JGM. Galerie,

Paris Acquired from the above by the current owner in 1994 

Robert Rosenblum, Les Lalanne, Genève, 1991, p. 21

Daniel Marchesseau, Les Lalanne, Paris, 1998, p. 94

Daniel Abadie, Lalanne(s), Paris, 2008, pp. 46-47 et 326

Les Lalanne, catalogue d'exposition, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, March 17, – July 4, 2010, p. 114 

Paul Kasmin, Claude & François-Xavier Lalanne, Art, Work, Life, New York, 2012, n.p.

Les Lalanne, Fifty years of work, 1964 – 2015, exhibition catalogue, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, March 26 – May 2, 2015, p. 73

Adrien Dannatt, François-Xavier & Claude Lalanne, In the Domain of Dreams, New York, 2018, pp. 178, 180-181 

Les Lalanne were at the centre of a cultural constellation, counting numerous painters, sculptors, writers, designers, architects and photographers among their intimate circle. Among their friends were Constantin Brancusi, Salvador Dalí, Man Ray, Jean Tinguely, Louis Aragon and Jasper Johns. Their influence even extended to the fashion world, as Claude became the only artist with whom Yves Saint Laurent collaborated in the course of his career.

Claude studied at the École des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and François-Xavier at l’Académie Julian. She first met Francois-Xavier in 1952 and by 1964 the couple held their first joint exhibition at Jeanine Restany’s J Gallery. Entitled Zoophites, the show featured a number of their signature pieces. 

Olympe, was modelled after the artists’ granddaughter, with cast lettuce leaves draped on her shoulders and victorious raised arm.