The global art market may still be terrible, but François-Xavier Lalanne’s strong demand for rare works helped a signature sculpture for sale at Sotheby’s today for $16.422 million.
Art consultant Laura Lester told Artnews Before selling. “There are always trophy hunters out there.”
The Great Rhino II (2003) is a life-size sculpture of gold bronze, brass and leather tables, in the shape of an animal, featured in Sotheby’s important design day sale in New York, with a length of more than 4 feet, a length of 8.5 feet and a height of two feet. Pre-sales are estimated at $3 million to $5 million.
The sculpture is the first edition of eight out of eight and was acquired from Galerie Mitterand in Paris in 2003. The last time The Great Rhino II The seventh edition appeared at auction for €5.5 million and was estimated at €3 million on May 22, 2022 in Sotheby’s Paris.
Today’s 105th batch bid starts at $2.5 million. After 45 bids online and Sotheby’s experts on the phone for more than 13 minutes, The Great Rhino II Beyond its overestimation, hitting $13.75 million, or $164.22 million, for a fee of $16.422 million, and calling bidders.
Today’s auction results The Great Rhino II It is the second highest for François-Xavier Lalanne. The artist’s record is Rhino isold for $19.4 million and costs $16.4 million, far exceeding the $6.4 million overestimation of Christie’s Paris in October 2023.
price The Great Rhino II Also surpassed last month’s sale of François Xavier Lalanne Bar Aux Autruches (1967-1968) After an 11-minute bidding war in Sotheby’s Paris on May 20, for a price of 11.1 million euros ($12 million).
The results further demonstrate the ongoing, strong demand of François-Xavier and his wife Claude Lalanne, by collectors in the categories of design, fine arts, post-war and contemporary, impressionist and modern art. “If there were Venn Charts of all these collectors, Lalanie was like that little place that met in the middle,” Leicester said. “You have only such a wide range of collectors that they would be interested in something like this and it would be hard to get.”
It is worth noting that over 700 pieces were sold in a private collection by Les Lalanne and his two daughters during various sales in Paris and New York between 2019 and 2024, the primary market declined.
“Now everything has been dispersed, [François-Xavier and Claude are] Both disappear like you have to wait for them to appear in the auction. Lester said: “You really, you really, you really do.
