- 309
Alberto Giacometti
Estimate
200,000 - 300,000 USD
bidding is closed
Description
- Alberto Giacometti
- Tête
- Signed A Giacometti (lower right)
- Oil on canvas
- 10 1/4 by 4 5/8 in.
- 26 by 11.7 cm
Provenance
Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above)
Thence by descent
Private Collection, New York (acquired from the above)
Thence by descent
Condition
Canvas laid down on canvas. The edges are reinforced with tape. The surface appears clean, with the exception of a slightly discolored area just to the proper left of the figure's head which corresponds to an old spot of retouching which is visible under UV light, Otherwise fine. This work is in very good 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.
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.
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.
Catalogue Note
Influenced by the post-war existentialist movement and spurred on by his own reworking of themes from his Surrealist past, Giacometti presents the viewer with a dramatic and haunting visage which may well be that of his younger brother, Diego. The picture captures a particular sentiment that the artist once expressed in a Surrealist prose poem: “The human face is as strange to me as a countenance, which, the more one looks at it, the more it closes itself off and escapes by the steps of unknown stairways” (quoted in Alberto Giacometti (exhibition catalogue), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C. & San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, 1988-89, p. 37).
Throughout his career, Giacometti frequently used Diego as a model. In nearly all his works, whether paintings or sculpture, Giacometti’s approach was consistent: the model is frontally posed and deprived of all attributes that might convey information about personality or status. Typically, the model engages the viewer directly and holds the viewer's gaze. Characterized by a frenetic energy, the strongly worked head depicted in this canvas appears like an apparition, emerging from an expansive and empty background of white. The work foreshadows Giacometti’s "Black Head" paintings which he worked on in the 1960s. In the paintings and sculpture of this period, he explored the psychological complexity of objectively representing someone with whom he was intimately familiar and nowhere is this more apparent than in the artist’s representations of his brother. Rather poignantly, Bonnefoy observed that “[in] the portraits of Diego one even senses considerable disquiet, as well as great energy… In the presence of someone who is, as it were, his double, Giacometti more than ever is witness to the mystery of existence, like Hamlet thinking of Yorick, in front of a skull in the dust” (Alberto Giacometti (exhibition catalogue), Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 1996, pp. 426-27).
Throughout his career, Giacometti frequently used Diego as a model. In nearly all his works, whether paintings or sculpture, Giacometti’s approach was consistent: the model is frontally posed and deprived of all attributes that might convey information about personality or status. Typically, the model engages the viewer directly and holds the viewer's gaze. Characterized by a frenetic energy, the strongly worked head depicted in this canvas appears like an apparition, emerging from an expansive and empty background of white. The work foreshadows Giacometti’s "Black Head" paintings which he worked on in the 1960s. In the paintings and sculpture of this period, he explored the psychological complexity of objectively representing someone with whom he was intimately familiar and nowhere is this more apparent than in the artist’s representations of his brother. Rather poignantly, Bonnefoy observed that “[in] the portraits of Diego one even senses considerable disquiet, as well as great energy… In the presence of someone who is, as it were, his double, Giacometti more than ever is witness to the mystery of existence, like Hamlet thinking of Yorick, in front of a skull in the dust” (Alberto Giacometti (exhibition catalogue), Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 1996, pp. 426-27).