Alberto Giacometti

Private Collection, Paris  (probably acquired in the 1930s)

Private Collection, France (acquired from the above and sold: Calmels, Chambre Cohen, Paris, November 30, 2001, lot 60)

Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)

Acquired from the above by the present owner

Alberto Giacometti (exhibition catalogue), Galerie Maeght, Zürich, 1980, no. 3, listed

Giacometti, Sculptures, Paintings, Drawings (exhibition catalogue), Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester; City of Bristol Museum of Art Gallery, Bristol; Serpentine Gallery, London, 1981, no. 2, illustration of the bronze version p. 15

Sculpture du XXème siècle (exhibition catalogue), Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, 1981, no. 90, illustration of the bronze version

Alberto Giacometti Exposition au Japon (exhibition catalogue), The Seibu Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1983, no. 3, illustration of the bronze version

Alberto Giacometti 1901-1966 (exhibition catalogue), Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, 1986, no. 3, illustration of the bronze version p. 78

Alberto Giacometti (exhibition catalogue), Fondation Gianadda, Martigny, 1986, no. 40, illustration of the bronze version p. 263

Dimension: Petit - L'Art Suisse entre petite sculpture et objet, d'Alberto Giacometti à nos jours (exhibition catalogue), Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, 1989, illustration of the bronze version p. 72

Yves Bonnefoy, Alberto Giacometti, 1991, no. 137, illustration of the bronze version p. 146

Alberto Giacometti (exhibition catalogue), Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, 1991-1992, no. 27, illustration of the bronze version p. 110

Alberto Giacometti, Sculptures, Peintures, Dessins (exhibition catalogue), Andros, 1992, no. 16, illustration of the bronze version

L'Atelier d'Alberto Giacometti (exhibition catalogue), Centre national d'art et culture Georges Pompidou, 2007-08, no. 79, illustration of the bronze version

The plaster bears a mottled blue-gray painterly finish. The paint is tightly bound and intact. The plaster edges appear slightly rough in profile. There are scattered, small areas of minor plaster loss that have been retouched. Over all, 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.

Giacometti created this volumetric form during his brief involvement with Cubism in the 1920s.   Cubism was the most influential artistic movement in Europe during the first half of the 20th century, and the young sculptor was compelled to experiment with the aesthetic during his early years in Paris in the 1920s.  Although most of Giacometti's work up until this point 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 descriptive associations.

James Lord has written the following about these Compositions from 1926-27 and what Giacometti learned from his foray into the Cubist domain:  "About sculpture he learned from Cubism that he could solve the formal plastic problem of creating an essentially abstract three-dimensional object of self-sustaining variety and interest.  About himself he learned that the solution of such problems could not provide him with the kind of fulfillment he sought.  As he was often to say in years to come, what interested him was not art but truth.  Still, one regrets that he produced only ten or twelve Cubist constructions, for they possess a bluff beauty unlike any other works in Giacometti's production.  The juxtaposition of convex and concave, of angle and line, of inert mass and animated space are so tensile and inventive that they leave no questions as to Alberto's mastery of the Cubist idiom.  It was not an original mode of expression, but with vigor and sincerity he made something personal of it" (James Lord, Giacometti, A Biography, Nwe York, 1985, 99). 

A great influence on the artist around this time was the work of the artist Raymond Duchamp-Villon, whose sculpture Cheval has frequently been compared with Giacometti's composition here.  This work, as well as the other Compositions that he created during this period, inspired an even more radical creative freedom in Giacometti's art, leading him to produce the Surrealist compositions in the late 1920s and early 1930s that would establish his place among the leading members of the avant-garde. 

The present work is the artist's unique polychrome sculpture that he created between 1926-27.  Composition dite cubiste II would later be cast in a bronze edition after the artist's death,  but this plaster form was created as a complete work unto itself.  The sculpture bears Giacometti's original paint and shows the artist's concern with subtle tonal gradations in order to enhance particular aspects of the form.   Speaking about this work recently, Véronique Wiesinger has remarked, "In my opinion, the continued interest of the artist in this work over the years, as well as his very subtle handling of the color and lack of color to modify the perception of the shape, makes it a pivotal work of his early production."