Press article : An unusual look - La Gazette Drouot

Yonel Lebovici (1937-1998)
Les Yeux sans visage, 1981

Faced with this 2-metre-high floor lamp, Yonel Lebovici's singularity and inventiveness are a sight to behold. Created in 1981, only ten copies of this work were produced that year, plus two artist's proofs. Apart from its rarity, it is particularly prized for its unusual and symbolic aspect. The artist's sharp, curious eye is reflected in this luminous sculpture, called Les Yeux sans visage. Gilles, the artist's son, explains that his father was inspired by a quotation from Stendhal's essay De l'amour: ‘You can say anything with a look and yet you can always deny a look because it cannot be repeated with words.’

Yonel Lebovici (1937-1998), Les Yeux sans visage floor lamp, 1981, polished aluminium, chromed steel and black lacquer, signed on the base ‘Lebovici Y’ and numbered 10, 200 x 80 x 50 cm.

Estimate : 20000/30000 €

This floor lamp comes in this series with Les Yeux wall lamps and the Yeux asymétriques and Cyclope lamps. What all these lights have in common is the use of a cylindrical structure and base in black lacquered steel. Like the mobiles of Calder, another brilliant inventor who greatly inspired Lebovici, the eyes in polished aluminium and PMMA (Plexiglas) are linked to the slender shaft by a tubular arch. Innovative materials and simple, effective shapes give rise to an object with unprecedented visual effects. This genuine work of art was acquired directly from the Lebovici family by its current owner, a renowned collector with six other creations on display at the auction. A sculptural table lamp, Soucoupe, from 1978, born of the mad era of the conquest of space, is expected to fetch 25000/30000€, a Saturn lamp 15000/20000€, and a glass easel poetically entitled L'Invisible, at the same estimate.

Self-taught and aerial

Yonel Lebovici would have been delighted with this diversity. An indefatigable bargain hunter, he used to get up at 5am every Saturday and Sunday to visit flea markets. A clever engineer and brilliant handyman, guided by the cult of ‘beauty in usefulness’, he was able to find his way in the fast-changing world of interior design from the 1970s to the 1980s. It has to be said that his background is quite different from that of most designers of the time, having studied electrical engineering at the Ecole Violet and then applied arts at the CNAM. In 1957, he was hired by the Société nationale de construction aéronautique du Sud-Est, which later became Sud-Aviation. There, he worked with light materials such as aluminium. He lived in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district, at the heart of a vibrant artistic scene, attending drawing classes at the Grande Chaumière and visiting gallery owners. His meeting with Serge Mansau in 1962 led him into the world of perfume bottles, before he opened his studio on rue d'Artois in 1969 and began creating his luminous sculptures, inspired by the creators of the Union des artistes modernes, the work of Takis and New Realism. His work as a dealer enabled him to finance his prototypes and the purchase of materials. By inventing his own formal vocabulary, he magnified everyday objects by diverting them from their original function, always with a touch of humour inherent in the Pop years, which were quick to shake up convention !

April Sunday 20, Cannes. Besch Cannes Auction OVV.

BY CAROLINE LEGRAND - LA GAZETTE DROUOT N° 14 OF APRIL 11, 2025 pages 24-25