Details
The image
A single bird standing on a plinth, drawn in profile with the seams of welded sheet steel visible across its body. A measured scale is set beneath it, the way a catalogue plate would record an object and the gallery address sits small at the foot. The blue is uneven where the metal has patinated.
Where it comes from
Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne made animals that doubled as furniture: a sheep you could sit on, a bar shaped like a rhinoceros, a bird that could be a table. Their work sat between sculpture and use and it was photographed and drawn for exhibition catalogues as precisely as any bronze, with a scale, from one angle, against a neutral ground.
On the wall
It behaves like a study print rather than a poster, which makes it easy to live with in a small room. A study, a hallway or the wall beside a bookshelf suits it. Because the drawing is quiet and the blue is the only strong note, it works in rooms where a large colourful print would be too much.
In company
Pairs well with photography and with design objects and it looks good hung lower than usual, near eye level when seated. In a group it should be the smallest piece: its detail needs proximity. A warm wood frame echoes the plinth in the drawing without repeating it exactly. The Exhibition collection is the obvious place to look for a neighbour.
