Fondation Giacometti

The Pittsburgh collector David Thompson (1898-1965) owned more than a hundred works by Giacometti, paintings, sculptures and drawings that he had bought between the end of the Forties and the end of the Fifties. In 1962, after the death of his son, he sold his large collection, gathered from the end of the Twenties, to the gallery owner from Basel, Ernst Beyeler. The works by Giacometti from that collection form today the core of the Alberto Giacometti Stiftung in Zurich. Giacometti painted four portraits of David Thompson, two in 1955 – of which this one, signed and dated – and two others, a couple of years later. This portrait was made in Paris, that Thompson visited several times to buy works from the artist. In a letter from the 16 September 1955, the collector thanked Giacometti who had just sent him the two first portraits, inviting him to come and finish them in Pittsburgh. It was indeed fairly typical of Giacometti not to be satisfied with his works, and to consider them always unfinished. For this portrait – as for the others of Thompson – the model sat in the studio in rue Hippolyte-Maindron, recognizable for the oblique line of the stairs on the right. The second portrait, counterpart of the same 1955 sessions, is stylistically very close to this one, but done in a smaller format. The model is very similar in the look, clothes and position of the head slightly leaning to the left. Giacometti still used a few colours – the red of the face, the blue of the jacket – unlike the portraits of the following years which were to be less and less coloured. This painting, signed and dated, seems never to have been exhibited in the artist’s lifetime.

Signed and dated at the bottom right corner "Alberto Giacometti/ 1955"

Private collection (United States Of America)
Private collection
Sale Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc. New York, NY (United States Of America), May 18th, 1983, lot n ° 45
Private collection
Sale Christie's New York New York, NY, November 15th, 1983, lot n ° 85
Sale Sotheby's London London (United Kingdom), June 26th, 1984, lot n ° 55
Private collection

Sale Christie's London London (United Kingdom), December 2nd, 1985, lot n ° 35
Private collection
Private collection

1980 Important XIX & XX Century Works of Art, London (United Kingdom), The Lefevre Gallery, from November 6th to December 19th 1980, no. 8
1994 Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966). A Loan Exhibition, New York, NY (United States Of America), Acquavella Galleries, Inc, from October 27th to December 10th 1994, no. 53
1997 Alberto Giacometti, Hiroshima (Japan), Hiroshima Prefectural Art Museum, from February 18th to March 23rd 1997, no. 36
1997 Alberto Giacometti, Shizuoka (Japan), Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art, from April 11th to May 25th 1997, no. 36
1997 Alberto Giacometti, Ashikaga (Japan), Ashikaga Museum of Art, from June 7th to July 13th 1997, no. 36
2010 Gray Collection. Seven Centuries of Art, Chicago, IL (United States Of America), The Art Institute of Chicago, from September 25th 2010 to January 2nd 2011, no. 98

Important XIX & XX Century Paintings & Drawings, London : The Lefevre Gallery, 1980, cat. no. 8, p. 19
Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture, New York, NY : Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., 1983, lot no. 45
Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture, New York, NY : Christie's New York, 1983, lot no. 85
Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture. Part I, London : Sotheby Parke Bernet & Co, 1984, lot no. 55
Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture, London : Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd., 1985, lot no. 35
Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), A Loan Exhibition, New York, NY : Acquavella Galleries, Inc, 1994, cat. no. 53, p. 115, ill. p. 83
Alberto Giacometti, Tokyo : Togo International Inc. & Curator Office Inc., 1997, cat. no. 36, p. 85, ill. p. 85
Gray Collection. Seven Centuries of Art, Chicago, IL : The Art Institute of Chicago, 2010, cat. no. 98, p. 142, ill. p. 143