- 321
Claude Lalanne
Description
- Caroline enceinte, le modèle créé en 1969, notre exemplaire conçu en 1978 et réalisé en 1985
- Signé Lalanne, monogrammé CL, numéroté 3/8 et daté 85
- bronze
- 162 x 52 x 40 cm (63 3/4 x 20 1/2 x 15 3/4 in.)
Provenance
Collection privée, Belgique
Literature
Robert Rosenblum, Les Lalanne, Genève, 1991, p. 19
Daniel Marchesseau, Lalanne, Paris, 1998, pp. 4-5 et 62
Les Lalanne, catalogue d'exposition, Galerie Guy Pieters, Knokke-le-Zoute, Août - Septembre 2001, reproduite en couverture et pp. 10-11
Daniel Abadie, Lalanne(s), Paris, 2008, pp. 77-79
Les Lalanne, catalogue d'exposition, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, paris, 17 mars - 4 juillet 2010, p. 39
Condition
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
In 1969, Yves Saint Laurent’s autumn-winter collection featured dresses composed of muslin and casts of the human form by Claude Lalanne. These golden bustiers, waistlines, necks and abdomens captivated audiences from the catwalk.
That same year, Claude Lalanne created Caroline enceinte, a surrealist sculpture of a woman’s body with a cabbage head that echoes the Pop Art movement and the prints by Jasper Johns and George Segal. It can also be compared to the casts of new realism’s leading artist Yves Klein.
Her juxtaposition of elements - plant (a cabbage) and cast (a human body) - is uniquely fascinating and thought-provoking. Is it a tribute to women’s power to give life, or a playful reference to the cabbage patch where legend holds that baby boys are born? Perhaps, for Caroline is expecting a son. Claude Lalanne enjoys combining fragments to produce a powerful work of art that releases us from reality.
The 1969 electroplated version is kept at the Centre Pompidou in Paris. In 1978, Claude Lalanne designed a bronze version of which 8 copies were cast, ours in 1985. Along with her cabbage with legs, rabbit with cabbage, French bread with children’s feet or her apples with mouths, it belongs to the magical universe of Claude Lalanne, where “the world is blue as an orange” (Paul Eluard).