Alberto Giacometti

Dr. de Boulogne, Paris (and sold: Sotheby's, New York, November 15, 1984, lot 354)
Acquired at the above sale

Yves Bonnefoy, Alberto Giacometti, Paris, 1991, no. 137, illustration of another cast p. 146
Alberto Giacometti (exhibition catalogue), Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris, 1991-92, no. 27, illustration of another cast p. 110
L'Atelier d'Alberto Giacometti (exhibition catalogue), Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, 2007-08, no. 79, illustration of another cast n.p.

The work is in very good condition. The patina is brownish black, the surface is a little dirty in the deeper crevices and there are spots of minor rubbing including to the top, most protruding point. There is very minor wear consistent with age, 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.

Giacometti conceived of this stereometric form during his brief experimentation with Cubism in the mid-1920s. Cubism was arguably the most influential movement in Europe, and the young sculptor was compelled to experiment with the aesthetic during his formative years in Paris. Although most of Giacometti’s earlier work had been concerned with representations of the human body, the small number of Cubist sculptures that he created between 1926 and 1927 proved that he could fully immerse himself in the plastic beauty of a given form without investing it with figural associations.

As explained in the catalogue for the 2001 Giacometti retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art: “Many of the decisive formal developments in twentieth-century art had taken place before World War I, and they were initiated and carried forward by the generation born around 1800. Giacometti had thus encountered mature work by sculptors such as Constantin Brancusi, Alexander Archipenko, Henri Laurens, and Jacques Lipchitz. Whether working directly from or in tandem with Cubist ideas, all had reshaped the organic figure, sometimes as geometric elements, and sometimes had abandoned it in favor of an entirely configurative form of composition” (quoted in Christian Klemm, Alberto Giacometti (exhibition catalogue), Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001, p. 56).

The present work is a superb representation of Giacometti’s evolving aesthetic. As expressed by Giacometti himself in 1924: “To organize masses in a unified and complete whole: one mass all the parts of which go together, each one with the other. Every part built up and drawn in the logic of its organic and clearly defined shape. To keep together all the reciprocal directions of the masses, the whole being continually harmonious. Each full shape. The complete shape, a whole powerful harmony. Up to and including the atmosphere” (quoted in Alberto Giacometti: Ecrits, Paris, 1990, p. 112).