Sculptor Lalanne's animal masterpieces sell for an impressive $59m

A giant bear, a winged rabbit, and a rhino were among the 70 animal bronzes and stone works by celebrated sculptor Francois-Xavier Lalanne that fetched $59 million at Christie's in New York this week.

The menagerie of wild, domesticated, and imaginary beasts was created by Lalanne and his late wife Claude at their workshop south of Paris, with the pieces sold formerly owned by Francois-Xavier's daughter Dorothee Lalanne.

Christie's said the collection brought in $58.9 million Thursday night, surpassing expectations of between $16 million and $23 million after a marathon four-hour auction.

"The sale made almost 300 percent of its low estimate, with 97 percent of lots surpassing their high estimates, sparking fierce competition among a multitude of bidders, and the sale saw exceptional results," Christie's said of the sale at its Rockefeller Center auction house.

More than 50 percent of buyers came from the Americas, 15 percent from Asia, and 30 percent from Europe even as the global art market has cooled since 2023.

Lalanne's record-breaking works in their category were the patinated bronze centaur "Tres Grand Centaure (2001)," which sold for $7.5 million, and the 10-foot-tall (3 meters) bear sculpture "Tres Grand Ours (2009)," sold for $6.1 million.

Christie's expert Daphne Riou told AFP Lalanne was a "major sculptor of the 20th century" who was inspired by nature and along with his wife Claude was "always on the border between art and design, full of humor and refusing to take themselves too seriously."

Lalanne's selling power exploded in 2009 at the auction of the Berge-Saint Laurent collection, where a set of 15 mirrors adorned with stylized leaves and branches by Claude Lalanne fetched 1.8 million euros.

The following year, the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris devoted a retrospective to the couple, before Christie's competitor Sotheby's sold a batch of 274 sculptures for 91 million euros in 2019.