Fondation Giacometti

Alberto Giacometti made a very large series of portraits of his relatives, like his wife Annette and his brother Diego, his close friends and acquaintances, met among art historians, critics and collectors, who most often posed in his Parisian studio at 46 Rue Hippolyte-Maindron, whose architecture is recognizable in the background – often limited to a few perpendiculars, and the big diagonal of the stairs. John Rewald, an art historian, who specialised in Impressionism and post-Impressionism, in particular Cézanne’s work, is here represented full-length, next to his seated wife, in the studio. The lines that structure the space behind them traverse the characters. The artist has paid less attention to their faces – although the features of the couple are quite recognizable – than to the depiction of the two bodies, fitted in the space of the studio, inserted in the network of lines that form their outlines. Here, the artist has made a very measured use of the rubber, bringing a few touches of light to Alice Rewald’s head, re-drawing John’s chin.

Inscribed with ink on the verso on the bottom left corner "JR"
Signed and dated with a pencil at the bottom right corner "Alberto Giacometti / Paris septembre 1959"

Alberto GIACOMETTI
John REWALD
The Museum of Modern Art
Sale Sotheby's New York New York, NY (United States Of America), May 10th, 2016, lot n ° 198
Sale Christie's New York New York, NY (United States Of America), May 14th, 2021, lot n ° 469