Les Lalanne: The Importance of Peeking Into Side Galleries

 

 

CLAUDE and FRANÇOIS-XAVIER LALANNE: NATURE TRANSFORMED

Clark Art Institute, Williamstown MA

Through October 31, 2021

 

 

Let’s hear it for side galleries! Most people who head for a major art museum such as Williamstown’s Clark Art Institute head straight one of two things: the blockbuster special exhibit or the famous stuff.

 

There’s plenty of reason to do both at the Clark. I’ve already posted on the superb Nikolai Astrup exhibit that will be there into mid-September. As for famous, the Clark’s Impressionist gallery is rightly renowned, and it also has scattered holdings from art world heavyweights such as Sandra Botticelli, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Winslow Homer, George Innes, Jean-François Millet, Edvard Munch, John Singer Sargent, Lawrence Alma-Tadema, J. W. W. Turner, and scores of others.

 

As you come in the main entrance, though, there is a side gallery to the right that often features material that the Clark has not historically collected–a lot if quirky and offbeat. That is certainly the case of the works of Claude (1924-2019) and François-Xavier (1927-2008) Lalanne, a married French couple often known collectively as “Les Lalanne.” (Claude was a woman; many French names–including Dominique, Jean Marie, Laurence and Loïs–can be male or female.)  

 

Les Lalanne are often labeled as sculptors, but that doesn’t quite prepare you for their whimsical and imaginative works. They reveled in taking forms, especially from nature, stylizing them, and metamorphizing them into multifunctional objects. They are at once, practical in tongue-in-cheek ways, and amusing pieces of art. A rhinoceros desk? Why not! 

 

 

 

While we’re at it, why not a cabbage that looks as if it could sprint away on its chicken legs? How about resting your tea cup on a round table held up by a monkey? Or toss your keys into a metal duck?  

 

 

 

Les Lalanne were sort of the missing link between surrealism, abstract art, and the pop art movement of the 1960s. They were also consummate crafters skilled in using electroplated metals that gave their works a distinctive texture and sheen. 

 

 

 

Above all, they had a puckish sense of humor. Ever drive in a rural area where you had to stop for sheep crossing the road? If so, you’’ lave extra appreciation for a slice of that they fashioned from textiles and other materials. But look carefully and you’ll notice that no all the sheep have heads. After all, when they dawdle across the road and bend down to sniff, look for food, or whatever else sheep do, they appear to impatient motorists as headless malingerers. Les Lalanne preferred a sparse, sometimes spartan look and saw no need to waste materials. Exactly!

 

This is a very small exhibit that will only take a few moments out of your search for famous art. You’ll leave chuckling, an emotion that’s often in short supply in the (overly) serious world of art. It might even give you an extra burst of energy to sustain your meanderings through the bigger rooms. Hopefully it will also remind you to always pop your head into small ones just in case there’s magic lurking.

 

Rob Weir