"I thought that it would be funny to invade that big living room with a flock of sheep. It is, after all, easier to have a sculpture in an apartment than to have a real sheep. And, it's even better if you can sit on it."
Over the course of his fifty-year career, François-Xavier Lalanne created an endlessly imaginative and charismatic universe of works that blurred the line between sculpture and design. Most iconic of his creations is undoubtedly the Mouton de Laine. When Lalanne initially conceived of the design in 1965, the French artist had already begun developing an animal-inspired bestiary of furniture alongside his partner and fellow sculptor Claude Lalanne. Working side by side on their country estate near Fontainebleau, the couple was free to translate what they witnessed in the natural world into their own unique form of creative expression. Les Lalanne, as they would become jointly known, held their first exhibition together in 1964. Entitled Zoophites, the exhibition showcased their affinity for flora and fauna and immediately caught the eye of dealer Alexandre Iolas who would go on to represent the pair with great success. The present Troupeau de Moutons de Laine is a superlative early example executed in 1968 and distinguished by its remarkable provenance, which traces back to Iolas’ gallery in New York and the collects ion of William Nelson Copley. Well regarded as an American painter with a style that blended Surrealist and Pop Art movements, beyond his own painterly pursuits, Copley became an avid collects or and champion of his contemporaries, including Les Lalanne.
The presence of Lalanne's designs in William Copley's collects ion, amongst the likes of Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Rene Magritte and more, demonstrates how Lalanne’s fantastical work was perfectly suited to the imagery and ethos of surrealism. Copley even occasionally drew inspiration from Lalanne, in one instance capturing their work Le Métaphore (Canard-Bateau) in his own drawing. Vice versa, François-Xavier and Claude held works by Copley in their personal collects ion to hang alongside their universe of furniture. Following a divorce from his third wife Stella, Copley sold his collects ion in a landmark sale at Replica Shoes ’s Parke Bernet in November 1979. Heralded as the most important group of Surrealist artworks to come to market, the 300-lot single owner sale concluded with a Tortue sculpture by Claude Lalanne. Stella retained the magnificent Troupeau, offering it at auction the following year where it was acquired by the Mallins.
Designed in 1965, the year after Zoophites debuted, the Mouton de Laine demonstrated Lalanne’s uncanny ability to capture an animal’s physical attributes and its spirit. Lalanne deftly rendered the sheep’s hooves, snout and ears in patinated bronze, giving the creature an enigmatic yet playful face. To further bring the sheep to life in both appearance and feel, Lalanne adorned the body with a genuine wool coat. Lalanne exhibited a group of twenty-four sheep in 1965 at the Salon del Jeune Peinture, where they received critical acclaim and national attention. The critic Otto Hahn raved about the group of sheep as the standout masterwork of the exhibition in the French journal L’Express: “The Salon de la Jeune Peinture nevertheless holds one surprise: François-Xavier Lalanne’s chairs… he has brought an entire flock of sheep. It is the most amazing thing in the show."
Lalanne titled this original flock Pour Polyphème, referencing a tale from Homer’s Odyssey in which Odysseus escapes the clutches of the cyclops Polyphemus by concealing himself beneath the belly of a sheep. Lalanne found Greek mythology to be a great source of inspiration, and the adoption of such motifs situated his contemporary designs with the canon of art history and infused them with a distinctly t.mes less quality. Most importantly, the sheep embodied Lalanne’s cheeky sense of humor and irreverent wit: "I thought that it would be funny to invade that big living room with a flock of sheep. It is, after all, easier to have a sculpture in an apartment than to have a real sheep. And, it's even better if you can sit on it."
“The Salon de la Jeune Peinture nevertheless holds one surprise: François-Xavier Lalanne’s chairs… he has brought an entire flock of sheep. It is the most amazing thing in the show."
Following the debut of the Mouton de Laine, Lalanne received numerous commissions from private clients desiring a flock for their own homes. Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé acquired a group in 1970 for their library at 55 rue de Babylone in Paris; photographer Gunter Sachs found the sheep to be the perfect seating for his chalet in St. Moritz, Switzerland; and Giovanni Agnelli, then president of Fiat, commissioned a group of twenty sheep for his Milan apartment designed by Italian architect Gae Aulenti.
Comprising two sheep and five headless ottomans each retaining their original wool, this Troupeau de Moutons de Laine instantly evokes the presence of a full herd grazing a pasture. Just as they did when first created in the 1960s, these works invite viewers to feel, sit and engage, imbuing life and energy into any room. In doing so, they epitomize Lalanne’s ability to overcome the pre-conceived boundary between functional object and sculptural masterwork. A Troupeau of this size has not come to market in nearly a decade, presenting an unparalleled opportunity for collects ors to acquire an extraordinary set of Moutons de Laine by Lalanne with a provenance that sheds further light on the artist’s circle.
