Francois-Xavier (1927-2008) and Claude (1925-2019) Lalanne were a husband-wife team of artists who created inventive and often surprising works that have been widely admired and collected since the 1960s. This book presents a carefully selected group of sculptures that focus on a shared preoccupation of the artists: the transformation of natural forms to serve new purposes, such as Francois-Xavier's giant grasshopper sculpture that opens into a bar and Claude's bench made of galvanized metal branches and vines such that it remains as much a forest as a place to sit. Critical analysis explores the full breadth of the artists' careers; considers the complex issues of reception and categorization of their work; and prompts a reevaluation of the place their art occupies in the context of art museums, all while encouraging readers to consider relationships among nature, art, and their own encounters with both.
