Fondation Giacometti

The chandelier that hung above the table in the middle of the sitting room in Stampa, in Giacometti’s family home in Switzerland, reappears in countless scenes executed by Giacometti. On a series of lithographs, notably presenting the artist’s mother reading, the chandelier figures by itself the space of representation. In this drawing, it is treated for itself, like a still life. Giacometti exploited its shapes in which spheres and volutes meet, and from the ordinary structure of a chandelier with no style, he created a work of accumulation of curves and counter-curves, drawing volumes – the sphere, the tube – in perspective, on a background of wall panels that can be made out behind. The chandelier represents in itself the room in Stampa, and its massive aspect, underlined by the scale of the drawing that occupies almost the whole sheet, gives a very imposing idea of it. Giorgio Soavi mentioned his impression faced with a drawing depicting the chandelier in “Il mio Giacometti”. The work, offered by the artist to the collector and friend, was never published in the artist’s lifetime.

Signed and dated with a ballpoint pen at the bottom right corner "Alberto Giacometti 1963"

Giorgio SOAVI
Private collection
Sale Sotheby's Milan Milan (Italy), April 21st, 2009, lot n ° 21

1970 Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), Rome (Italy), Villa Medici, from October 24th to December 18th 1970, no. 36
1973 La Svizzera Italiana onora Alberto Giacometti, Lugano (Italy), Museo civico di Belle Arti, from April 7th to June 17th 1973, no. 114
1995 Alberto Giacometti. Sculture. Dipinti. Disegni, Milan (Italy), Palazzo Reale, from January 26th to April 2nd 1995, no. 85
1999 Alberto Giacometti. Disegni, sculture e opere grafiche, Bologne (Italy), Museo Morandi, no. 63
2000 I Giacometti. La valle, il mondo, Milan (Italy), Fondazione Antonio Mazzotta, from February 13th to May 14th 2000
2001 Alberto Giacometti. Le dessin à l'oeuvre, Paris (France), Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, from January 23rd to April 9th 2001, no. 172
2005 Alberto Giacometti. Percorsi lombardi, Sondrio (Italy), Museo Valtellinese di Storia e Arte, from January 20th to April 22nd 2005, no. 51

Giorgio SOAVI, Protagonisti. Giacometti. Sutherland. De Chirico, Milan : Longanesi & C., 1969, p. 74, ill. p. 81
Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), Rome : De Luca Editore, 1970, cat. no. 36, p. 34, ill. p. non paginé
La Svizzera Italiana onora Alberto Giacometti, Lugano : Museo civico di Belle Arte, 1973, cat. no. 114, p. 54
Giorgio SOAVI, Disegni di Giacometti, Milan & Rome : Editoriale Domus, 1973, cat. no. [1], p. 28
Giorgio SOAVI, Dessins de Giacometti, Rome : Franca May Edizioni, 1980, cat. no. [1], p. 28
Casimiro DI CRESCENZO, Alberto Giacometti. Sculture. Dipinti. Disegni, Florence : Artificio Edizioni, 1995, cat. no. 85, p. 247, ill. p. 247
Alberto Giacometti. Disegni, sculture e opere grafiche, Milan : Edizioni Gabriele Mazzotta, 1999 / Bologne : Museo Morandi, 1999, cat. no. 63, p. 145, ill. p. 135
I Giacometti. La valle, il mondo, Milan : Edizioni Gabriele Mazzotta, 2000, p. 230, ill. p. 230
Pietro BELLASI, Marco OBRIST, Chasper PULT, I Giacometti. La valle, il mondo, Milan : Edizioni Gabriele Mazzotta, 2000, p. 230, ill. p. 230
Agnès de LA BEAUMELLE, Alberto Giacometti. Le dessin à l'oeuvre, Paris : Gallimard, 2001 / Paris : Musée national d'art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, 2001, cat. no. 172, p. 244, ill. p. 205
Casimiro DI CRESCENZO, Franco MONTEFORTE, Alberto Giacometti. Percorsi Lombardi, Sondrio : Fondazione Gruppo Credito Valtellinese, 2005, cat. no. 51, p. 419, ill. p. 216
Giorgio Soavi Collezionista, Milan : Sotheby's Milan, 2009, lot no. 21, p. 29, ill. p. 29