The sculptor Claude Lalanne dies at the age of 93

Sculptor Claude Lalanne, who was an artistic duo with her husband François-Xavier, died in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday.

Her floral, surreal and poetic works made her one of the greatest contemporary sculptors: Claude Lalanne, who, together with her husband François-Xavier, died in 2008, a famous artistic duo, died Wednesday at the age of 93, announced at AFP his gallerist and friend Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand.

The artist behind The man with cabbage head

who was 95 years old, died Wednesday at 2 am in the hospital of Fontainebleau, following a massive stroke. "The personality of Claude Lalanne was built as a fortress against bad taste and pretension.He hunted with humor and humor, mediocrity and gave no chance to the exegetes of the so-called avant-garde as the fashions artistic", said Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand in a statement. "Claude Lalanne had the simplicity of the artists who do things with their hands and build a poetic world of their own without worrying about anything else," added the gallerist.

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One of his best-known sculptures is The Man with the Head of Cabbage , made in 1968 and which inspired Serge Gainsbourg's eponymous concept album in 1976.

One of the most famous sculptures by Claude #Lalanne is "The Man with the head of cabbage", made in 1968 and which inspired Serge #Gainsbourg his eponymous concept album in 1976 # AFPpic.twitter.com / rzKY1RhQN0

The sculptor who was still working at her studio late last week, had studied architecture at the School of Fine Arts and Arts Decorative Paris.

With her husband, "common room and separate workshop"

The duo of sculptors "Les Lalanne" was born from his meeting with François-Xavier Lalanne in a gallery in 1952. He became her husband and artistic partner. If the couple is known and exhibited jointly, the two artists collaborate on less than a dozen works, including Ben's apple and The water lilies monkey . They make "common room and separate workshop", they confided. Each one has his own universe, that of François-Xavier draws on the animal world - with particular her series of sheep - and that of Claude, more poetic, is mainly of floral inspiration, sometimes surrealistic, even if she signed her own bestiary to side of "useful works", furniture, cutlery, mirrors and jewelry.

The auction "Bergé-Saint Laurent", in 2009, marked the explosion of the rating of Lalanne: a batch of fifteen mirrors Claude was auctioned 1.8 million euros. Claude Lalanne also created the "Lalanne Garden", inaugurated in 1986, a children's adventure garden located at the Halles de Paris and whose destruction in 2011 had raised many challenges. In 2010, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris devoted a major retrospective to the Lalanne.