Alberto Giacometti

Pierre Loeb, France
Thence by descent

Yonne, Château de Tanlay, Hommage à Denise Colomb: Portraits d'artistes, photographies, de Montparnasse à Saint-Germain-des-Prés, avec ses frères Pierre et Edouard Loeb, Peintures - Dessins - Sculptures, 1996

Cahiers d'Art, 20e - 21e années, Paris, 1945-1946, Femme illustrated p. 254; Homme illustrated p. 255

In excellent condition. The patina is a warm golden brown. The surface is slightly dull and there is a minor chalkiness to the top of the block on which the male figures head rests. Otherwise fine.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Image ©Hughes Dubois

"In 1940, to my great horror, my sculptures started to shrink... All my sculptures inevitably ended up just one centimeter high, one slip of the thumb and pouf! the sculpture's gone. It is only later that I really thought about it: instinctively at first, I reduced the size of the sculpture to reflect the real distance from which I had observed the figure. The young girl 15 meters away from me did not measure 80 centimeters but ten. What is more, in order to apprehend the figure as a whole, to not drown myself in the detail, I needed to be even further away. But the details still bothered me... So I drew back, further and further, until it disappeared..." (Alberto Giacometti, cited in Jacques Dupin & Michel Leiris, Alberto Giacometti, Paris, 1978, p. 21. Translated from the French).

The first owner of the present works was Pierre Loeb, the founder of the Galerie Pierre, who was amongst the earliest supporter of the artist and the other Surrealists in his circle.  The gallery became one of the meeting places of avant-garde artists in Paris when it opened in 1924 and André Breton and Robert Desnos organised the first Surrealist group show  there, which included works by Miró, Klee, Man Ray, Ernst and Picasso. 

fig 1. Alberto Giacometti, the artist's sketches within Jacques Dupin & Michel Leiris, Alberto Giacometti, Paris, 1978, p. 8