François-Xavier Lalanne

Private collection, Paris

Daniel Abadie, Lalanne(s), Paris, 2008, p. 131

Les Lalanne, Paris, exhibition catalogue, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, 2010, p. 214

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

Adrien Dannatt, Les Lalanne, Fifty Years of Work, exhibition catalogue, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, 2015, p. 129

Adrian Dannatt, François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne: In the Domain of Dreams, New York, 2018, p. 119

François-Xavier Lalanne's Lampe Pigeon is an iconic work in his repertoire. With its rounded lines and luminous belly, it perfectly illustrates the artist's spirit, joyfully blurring the boundaries between sculpture and utilitarian object. When the luminaire was presented in 1991, François-Xavier Lalanne placed his work in the history books, humorously referring to Charles Pigeon and the famous lamp, known as the Pigeon, presented at the 1900 Exposition Universelle: « It took Mr. Pigeon to make a clever son for Mrs. Pigeon to invent a gasoline lamp that could bear his name and take him around the world. It didn't take any less for me, at the sight of a pigeon gorging itself on a roof, to imagine making a lamp from it, the name of which would be self-evident ».

This lot is offered by a member of the family of a Sotheby's employee.