Fondation Giacometti

It was in 1943, in Switzerland, that Alberto Giacometti met Annette Arm (1923-1993), whom he married in 1949. Forever present and available, patient during the long sittings, she became, with Diego Giacometti, one of the most often used models of the artist. Leaning on her indoor activities, reading or sewing, she appears in numerous interior scenes. The room depicted here is the cellina, the kitchen in the Giacometti’s family home in Stampa, in the canton of Grisons. The couple used to go every year to Alberto’s childhood house, where his mother still lived. The barrel-vaulted ceiling of the kitchen is recognizable in the upper part of the work. Annette is reading, seated at the kitchen table; in front of her objects are displayed, while on the left, one can see the dresser and behind her, on the wall, four frames around the door. The pencil treats all parts of the drawing with the same attention, inscribing the female figure in a network of lines that integrate her into the room. More than the portrait of his wife, Giacometti in this drawing shows how much he is attentive to the representation of space, the vision he has of it and that he tries to reproduce. The perspective accentuates the distortion of the figures that appear all the more diminished as they are positioned far from the eye of the artist. The drawing has been reworked with a rubber, a few parts erased, especially on both sides of Annette, and some elements of furniture. Acquired by the gallery owner Heinz Berggruen, the drawing was found in the collection of the famous English picture framer Alfred Hecht. It was never exhibited nor published in the artist’s lifetime.

Signed and dated with a pencil at the bottom right corner "Alberto Giacometti 1955"

Aimé MAEGHT
Private collection
Private collection
Private collection
Sale Sotheby's London London (United Kingdom), February 4th, 2009, lot n ° 128
Private collection

James LORD, Dessins d'Alberto Giacometti, Paris : Editions Seghers, 1971, cat. no. 102, p. 216, ill. p. 217
Impressionist & Modern Art. Day Sale, London : Sotheby's London, 2009, lot no. 128