Press article : A message of peace from François-Xavier Lalanne - La Gazette Drouot

François-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008)
Oiseau bleu

Placed below the tail end, the print receipt ‘HC 00/00’ indicates that this copy was intended for the artist or his entourage. It was bought by the father of its current owner directly from François-Xavier Lalanne, of whom he was a close friend and great collector. It was sold together with an engraving, Oiseau, signed in pencil and numbered 23/24, forming a greetings card with the dedication ‘Bonne année à tous deux je vous embrasse Claude et François’. Given the current buzz around the Lalanne couple's work, it's easy to imagine that this sculpture in the noble material of bronze will attract a great deal of interest from art lovers.

François-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008), Oiseau bleu, 1976, bronze print with antique blue-green patina, steel ball, signed with the monogram ‘XL’, receipt ‘HC 00/00’, 17 x 30.5 x 12.2 cm.

Estimate : 180 000/200 000 €

Also known as l'Oiseau de Matisse (Matisse's Bird), in reference to the master's 1947 paper cut-out for his book Jazz, this bird plays with its antique blue-green colour, a patina created by the sculptor himself. A rarity in his work, which often uses uniform, monochrome materials. With this 1976 creation, the artist evokes ancient art and its references to peace. This series on this theme began in 1971 with L'Oiseau bleu, an outdoor sculpture in copper for the hospital in Dôle. It delivers its message with the olive branch replaced by a drop of water, here created in steel but in crystal on the white pâte de verre model from 1979 for Daum - where the bird naturally evokes the dove. L'Oiseau bleu was exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris from 5 June to 13 July 1975 as part of the Lalanne retrospective. From then on, it was a great success, leading to several editions, from our 1976 edition of eight, plus four artist's proofs and a few rare private ‘HC 00/00’ prints, to L'Oiseau bleu II in 1998.

These are all works typical of François-Xavier Lalanne's art, with their extremely simplified forms and great purity of line, no doubt inspired by the lessons given by Dalí and Magritte at the Julian Academy. But unlike many of his other creations, this bird has no other function than to be decorative and symbolic.

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LA GAZETTE DROUOT N° 14 OF APRIL 11, 2025 page 121