Fondation Giacometti

Giacometti’s studio at 46 rue Hippolyte-Maindron, in the Alésia district near Montparnasse, is the central theme of his paintings and drawings from after the war. In those years, Giacometti made not only portraits in which the model almost merged with the furniture, the tools and art works in his studio, but also paintings that represented a corner of the room, with the pieces on which the artist was working at the time. Around 1950, Giacometti painted at least 8 canvases representing pieces in his studio. In an outlined frame that defines the space of the vision, a device the artist used a lot in his paintings from that era, the small turntable of the studio is represented in the foreground, sideways. The bust of a man on a pedestal, head elongated similar to those Giacometti sculpted between 1947 and 1950, occupies the centre of the painting. It is painted in black, white, blue and red, and its head is surrounded by a clear halo of dense paint as was often the case in the portraits painted by the artist, around the model’s face. In the background, a big painting of a woman standing (as Giacometti painted around 1949) blocks the depth of space created by the small turntable placed sideways. On the left, one recognizes on the table a small figure of a man walking on a big pedestal, close to The night, a plaster sculpture that Giacometti exhibited at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York in 1948. Signed and dated from 1950, this painting does not seem to have been exhibited in the artist’s lifetime.

Signed and dated with a paintbrush at the bottom right corner "Alberto Giacometti 1950"

Private collection
Sale Christie's New York New York, NY, November 6th, 2007, lot n ° 4
Sale Sotheby's New York New York, NY (United States Of America), May 7th, 2014, lot n ° 25
Private collection

2008 Isabel and Oher Intimate Strangers. Portraits by Alberto Giacometti and Francis Bacon, New York, NY (United States Of America), Gagosian Gallery, from November 3rd to December 13th 2008

Impressionist and Modern Art. Evening sale, New York, NY : Christie's, 2007, lot no. 4, p. 12, ill. p. 13
Véronique WIESINGER, Valentina CASTELLANI, John GOOD, Andrea CRANE (under the direction of), Alberto Giacometti. Francis Bacon. Isabel and Other Intimate Strangers, New York, NY : Gagosian Gallery, 2008, p. 131 & 256, ill. p. 131 & 256