Ne pas perdre la tête (Don't lose your head) is a work by French contemporary artist Cécile Raynal, from the "petites histoires en réserve" (tales from the storage area) series.

This installation is made up of three figurative sandstone sculptures; a man sitting, a fawn and a decapitated man also sitting, holding his head in his hands and antlers protruding from his neck. This work gets its inspiration directly from the myth of Saint-Denis, the first bishop of Paris, who died as a martyr decapitated in Montmartre who deposited his head in Saint-Denis north of Paris after a long walk. The Cephalophore, to antlers, « the head carriers, » we are mixing up christian mythology, the animal kingdom and fiction.« Sometimes a head is kind of heavy, easy to lose. Sometimes it is even a good idea to lose it. »

« I do not know how things come together, like in this case christian mythology or that the displacement of the head should give rise to the skewering of the two antlers which rise up out of this piece and seem to surge forth stronger than the original myth. And that makes it all fiction, and that's what I am looking for. »

This sculpture exhibited in the Arts et Métiers museum between 29 May and 26 Aug 2018, part of the "petites histoires en réserve" series was created during Cécile Raynal's residency behind the scenes at the museum in 2017. As per her method, the artist created busts and standing figurines of the people she met as well as animal sculptures (wolves and foxes) recurrent in the works of the artist for a few years now.

Man : 73 cm x 30 cm x 26 cm, 17 kg, for a price of 4 100 €.

Beheaded man : 77 cm x 36 cm x 25 cm, 15 kg, for a price of 4 100 €.

Fawn : 38 cm x 38 cm x 18 cm, 4 kg, for a price of 1 400 €.

Price of the three sculptures together : 9 500 €.