Alberto GiacomettiAlberto Giacometti - Portrait1956
1956
About the Item
- Creator:Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966, Swiss)
- Creation Year:1956
- Dimensions:Height: 12.6 in (32 cm)Width: 9.45 in (24 cm)Depth: 0.04 in (1 mm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CH
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU16124469952
Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti was a painter, printmaker and furniture designer but he is best known as one of the 20th century’s most important sculptors. He is revered for the elongated, slender human figures he created in the years following World War II that reflected existentialism and the trauma associated with the conflict.
Giacometti was born in Borgonovo, Switzerland, in 1901 to a creative family. His father Giovanni was a Post-Impressionist painter, his godfather Cuno Amiet was a Fauvist painter, his brother Bruno was an architect, and his other brother Diego was an artist and furniture designer who also served as Giacometti’s model. (The sculptor worked chiefly with models plucked from his personal life.)
Beginning in 1922, Giacometti studied at the Académie de la Grande-Chaumière in Paris and was influenced by the Cubist work of Alexander Archipenko, Raymond Duchamp-Villon and the post-Cubist sculptures of Jacques Lipchitz and Henri Laurens.
During the 1930s, Giacometti designed furniture such as lamps, vases and wall décor to earn a living, often collaborating with interior designer Jean-Michel Frank, whose interiors tastefully mixed extravagance with sophisticated simplicity. However, Giacometti’s passion lay in creating sculptures.
Alberto and his brother Diego left Paris in 1940 to escape the Nazi invasion and spent time in the South of France before fleeing to Geneva, remaining there until 1946. In 1947, Giacometti began work on his most famous sculptures — very tall and thin figurines that came to be associated with frailty and loneliness.
Giacometti catapulted to fame in the United States following two exhibitions of his sculptures in 1948 and 1950 at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York City — Jean-Paul Sartre authored the catalogue essay for the latter. In 1961, Giacometti’s friend, Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, asked him to design the set for a re-staging of his play “Waiting for Godot.” His response took on the form of a single plaster tree.
In 1962, Giacometti won the grand prize for sculpture at the Venice Biennale, and for much of the rest of his career, he created modern paintings, drawings and sculptures of plaster, clay and bronze in his small Paris studio. He died in 1966.
Giacometti’s works continue to enthrall collectors. In 2010, his life-size bronze sculpture L'Homme qui marche (“the man who walks”), which now adorns the 100 Swiss Franc banknote, became one of the most expensive sculptures to be sold at auction.
On 1stDibs, discover a range of vintage Alberto Giacometti wall decorations, prints and sculptures.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, Switzerland
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 7 days of delivery.
- Claude Weisbuch - The Angel of Death - Signed and Numbered EngravingBy Claude WeisbuchLocated in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CHClaude WEISBUCH The angel of death Original drypoint engraving on Vellum paper Handsigned on bottom right 56 x 76 cm Claude Weisbuch, French (1927 - 2...Category
1970s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsDrypoint
- Pablo Picasso - Painter and His Model - Original LithographBy Pablo PicassoLocated in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CHPablo Picasso - Painter and His Model - Original Lithograph 1964 Dimensions: 30 x 20 cm Edition of 200 (one of the 200 on Vélin de Rives) Mourlot Press, 1964 Unsigned and unumbered ...Category
1960s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Alexander Calder - Rocks and Sun - Original LithographBy Alexander CalderLocated in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CHAlexander Calder - Rocks and Sun - Original Lithograph From the literary review "XXe Siècle" 1952 Dimensions: 32 x 24 cm Publisher: G. di San Lazzaro. Unsigned and unnumbered as issuedCategory
1950s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Joan Miro - Original Lithograph - Frontispiece for "Prints from Mourlot Press"By Joan MiróLocated in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CHJoan Miro - 1964 Dimensions: 30 x 20 cm Edition of 200 (one of the 200 on Vélin de Rives) reserved for collaborators, there was also a larger edition of 2000 From "Prints from the Mo...Category
1960s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Maria Elena Vieira da Silva - The Man - Original Handsigned EtchingBy Maria Elena Vieira da SilvaLocated in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CHMaria Elena Vieira da Silva - The Man - Original Handsigned Etching 1974 Handsigned and numbered Edition of 100. Dimensions: 33 x 22 cmCategory
1970s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsEtching
- André Minaux - Abandoned Boat - Original LithographBy Andre MinauxLocated in Collonge Bellerive, Geneve, CHAndré Minaux - Abandoned Boat - Original Lithograph 1964 Dimensions: 30 x 20 cm Edition of 200 (one of the 200 on Vélin de Rives) Mourlot Press, 1964 And...Category
1960s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsLithograph
- Nature morte au coquetierBy Mario AvatiLocated in New York, NYThis elegant mezzotint print, entitled, "Nature morte au coquetier", was realized by the esteemed artist Mario Avanti in France, 1962. It depicts a stylized rendition of a dove as a ...Category
1960s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsMezzotint
- WindBy Anne DykmansLocated in New Orleans, LAAnne Dykmans' "Wind" shows a multi color ribbon flapping in the wind. The flow of the wind is shown through the movement of the fabric. It is in an edition of just 10. Anne Dykman...Category
Early 2000s Modern Abstract Prints
MaterialsMezzotint
- Apollo and DaphneBy George RickeyLocated in New York, NYA superb, richly-inked impression of this extremely scarce, early etching, aquatint and engraving with hand coloring in watercolor on cream wove paper. Colors are strong with crisp, ...Category
1940s Kinetic Abstract Prints
MaterialsWatercolor, Engraving, Etching, Aquatint
- Storm at Saint HonoréBy Louise BourgeoisLocated in New York, NYRichly-inked and superb impression of this engraving and drypoint on cream wove paper. This is the eighth state (of 8). Signed, dated and numbered 28/100 in pencil by Bourgeois. Publ...Category
1990s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsEngraving, Drypoint, Lithograph
- The BarbarianBy Richard DiebenkornLocated in New York, NYA very good, richly-inked impression of this aquatint with scraping, burnishing and drypoint on Rives BFK. Initialed, dated and numbered 8/15 in pencil by Diebenkorn. Printed and pub...Category
1990s Contemporary Abstract Prints
MaterialsDrypoint, Aquatint
- UntitledBy Sam FrancisLocated in London, GBAquatint and drypoint 75.9 x 60.6 cms (29 7/8 x 23 7/8 ins) paper size 60.3 x 45.4 cms (23 3/4 x 17 7/8 ins) plate size Edition of 5Category
1980s Abstract Abstract Prints
MaterialsDrypoint, Aquatint