- 14
Alberto Giacometti
Description
- Alberto Giacometti
- Portrait de Louis Aragon
- signed Alberto Giacometti and dated 46 (lower right)
- pencil on paper
- 21 1/8 x 14 1/2 in.
Provenance
Private collection, England (by descent)
Exhibited
Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preuβischer Kulturbesitz et Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie, Alberto Giacometti, Skulpturen-Gemälde-Zeichnunge-Graphik, 1988, no. 100, illustrated in the catalogue p. 219
Germany, Kunsthaus Apolda Avantgarde & Museum Kunsthaus Kleve, Alberto Giacometti Portraits, 2001, no. 9, illustrated in the catalogue
London, Lefevre Fine Art & Thomas Gibson Fine Art, Alberto Giacometti, 2004, illustrated in the catalogue p. 33
London, Lefevre Fine Art & Thomas Gibson Fine Art, Works on paper, 2005, no. 24, illustrated in the catalogue p. 53
Literature
Herausgegeben von Axel Matthes, Louis Aragon mit Anderson Wege zu Giacometti, Munich, 1987, illustrated p. 20
Angela Schneider, Alberto Giacometti, Sculpture, Painting, Drawings, Munich, New York, 1994, illustrated no. 65
Condition
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
In 1946, Alberto Giacometti painted a series of portraits of artistic and literary personalities. Simone de Beauvoir, Marie-Laure de Noauilles or George Bataille figure among his models.
Here Giacometti captures Louis Aragon in a familiar attitude, sitting in his living room. Beyond the record of the friendship that linked the two men, this work is a masterful illustration of Giacometti’s talent as a draughtsman. For him, drawing was the most immediate means of capturing the truth of the person facing him. “It is important to say, I believe, that, whether about sculpture or painting, only drawing counts. One must attach oneself solely and exclusively to drawing.” (Alberto Giacometti, Entretien avec Georges Charbonnier, Ecrits, Paris, 1951). As Florian Rodari so rightly describes (" Giacometti l'ajusteur", exhibition catalogue Alberto Giacometti. Le dessin à l'œuvre, Paris, Centre Pompidou, 2001), the artist concentrates primarily on the model’s gaze which emerges out of a tangle of vibrant, hatched lines. Vigorous line becomes a vast network ensnaring the subject. The silhouette of the poet or writer, of remarkable presence, seems modeled here by multiple biting lines which focus all the drawing’s intensity in the model’s face. In this composition Giacometti gives a moving tribute to the passionate relationship that united Louis Aragon to Elsa Triolet, a woman of letters and muse to the poet represented here in a picture placed on the mantelpiece.