Claude Lalanne (1924–2019)

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Claude Lalanne (1924–2019) | The French sculptor and designer Claude Lalanne has died. Lalanne was born in Paris, where she studied architecture at the École des Beaux-Arts and the École des Arts Décoratifs. Throughout her career, she traversed the boundaries of fine and decorative art, from her early work making objects for department store displays to collaborations with fashion designers (such as Yves Saint Laurent, with whom she worked on his 1969 autumn/winter collection) and her own jewellery designs. Beginning in the 1950s, she often worked closely with her husband, François-Xavier (d. 2008), under the shared name of Les Lalanne, making sculptures inspired by the forms of flora and fauna. 

EU introduces new regulations for cultural imports | The Art Newspaper reports that the European Council yesterday agreed to introduce new regulation for cultural imports from autumn 2020, intended to reduce illegal trafficking and money laundering. The rules will apply to cultural artefacts entering the EU, which will require papers proving that the objects are being exported legally in order to be issued a special import license. The information will also be stored in an electronic database available to the national authorities in every EU country.

Tokyo Contemporary Art Award winners announced | The inaugural winners of the Tokyo Contemporary Art Award (2019–21) have been announced as printmaker Sachiko Kazama and painter Motoyuki Shitamichi. Each will receive ¥3,000,000, additional funding to work abroad and the opportunity to exhibit new work at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo. The award is intended to recognise and encourage mid-career artists in Japan and was established by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Tokyo Arts and Space in 2018.

Recommended reading | The Portland Press Herald reports on ‘a messy dispute’ heading to court between the Portland Museum of Art and a woman who was caretaker to Eleanor G. Potter, an art collector who withdrew a bequest of $2m pledged to the museum six months before her death in March 2015. Dorian Batycka summarises the results of the recent Freemuse report on artistic freedom in 2018 for Hyperallergic. And at artnet, 14 artists share their most memorable trades of work with fellow artists.