A Sheep In Sheep's Clothing...

The French artist François-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008) created some of the most hotly collected objets d'art of the 20th century. Yves Saint Laurent was passionate about Lalanne's amazing sheep sculptures. Other fancy pants collectors of his surreal animal themed works include Tom Ford, Karl Lagerfeld, Mark Jacobs and many others. A painter by training, Mr. Lalanne created his own brand of surrealism when, in 1964, he unveiled “Rhinocrétaire,” a life-size rhinoceros, whose side folded out into a writing desk. Endlessly inventive, he generated a zoo’s worth of animals in the decades that followed.  He and his wife also created many works of public art, including in my neck of the woods six topiary dinosaurs for the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.