The Swiss Fine Art Sale
The Swiss Fine Art Sale
Augusto Giacometti
Herbst / L'autunno
Lot Closed
June 15, 01:20 PM GMT
Estimate
300,000 - 500,000 CHF
Lot Details
Description
Augusto Giacometti
1877 - 1947
Herbst / L'autunno
Oil on canvas
Signed lower right;
signed and titled on the stretcher
61.5 x 63 cm (unframed); 73.8 x 74.5 cm (framed)
Executed in 1913
This work is registered in the Swiss Institute for Art Research (SIK-ISEA) under no. 181119 0018 and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. It will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue Raisonné of the artist currently being prepared.
Karl Henschen-Naef, Basel
Corporate collection, Switzerland
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Erwin Poeschel, Augusto Giacometti, Monographien zur Schweizer Kunst, vol. 3, Zurich, 1928, p. 71
Hans Hartmann, Augusto Giacometti. Pionier der abstrakten Malerei. Ein Leben für die Farbe, Chur, 1981, no. 795
Augusto Giacometti stayed in Florence from 1902 to 1915. During this rich creative period, his styles shifted from large symbolist compositions to abstract landscapes, paintings of flowers and non-figurative scenes.
Between 1910 and 1914 Giacometti painted a series of works that were mainly square in composition, in order to give more balance to his paintings. Herbst / L'Autunno plunges us into a bright garden overgrown with flowers and trees. Although the organization of the composition is figurative, the colour scheme is reminiscent of the artist's abstract works. Simplified shapes highlighting single, bold colours prevail.
During this period Giacometti continued exploring neo-impressionist painting and applied colour like a mosaic of stones, in large, thick and pasted strokes, allowing areas of the light background canvas show through. The brushstroke is divided, and the colour is applied in small round spots, drawing inspiration from the earlier pointillism technique which constitute the essence of the painting.
This work has not been exhibited since the artist’s time and appears for the first time on the public market.