Figural Studies on newspaper by Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966).
c. 1959
Pen on Le Figaro Littéraire newspaper page.
Giacometti drew on whatever was immediately to hand. Books, magazines, newspapers and even the paper tablecloths of Parisian cafés became surfaces for his daily drawing practice. The café offered a place of solitude and concentration where he could return to the faces and figures that occupied his imagination.
Here, on the front and reverse of the Le Figaro Littéraire from the 11th April 1959, his searching lines transform the page. The newspaper carries the noise of the outside world whilst Giacometti’s lines slow it down. He circles a head, follows a profile, loses it and finds it again - often returning to the same place until the accumulation of lines begins to reveal form. A newspaper belongs to a single day, destined to be read and discarded. Giacometti turns it into something else. A small, intimate record of looking.
Provenance
Gifted directly from the artist to Eberhard Kornfeld (1923 - 2023).
The authenticity of this drawing has been confirmed by the Comité Giacometti, Paris. It is registered in the catalogue raisonné under the number AGD 3896.
Figural Studies on newspaper by Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966).
c. 1959
Pen on Le Figaro Littéraire newspaper page.
Giacometti drew on whatever was immediately to hand. Books, magazines, newspapers and even the paper tablecloths of Parisian cafés became surfaces for his daily drawing practice. The café offered a place of solitude and concentration where he could return to the faces and figures that occupied his imagination.
Here, on the front and reverse of the Le Figaro Littéraire from the 11th April 1959, his searching lines transform the page. The newspaper carries the noise of the outside world whilst Giacometti’s lines slow it down. He circles a head, follows a profile, loses it and finds it again - often returning to the same place until the accumulation of lines begins to reveal form. A newspaper belongs to a single day, destined to be read and discarded. Giacometti turns it into something else. A small, intimate record of looking.
Provenance
Gifted directly from the artist to Eberhard Kornfeld (1923 - 2023).
The authenticity of this drawing has been confirmed by the Comité Giacometti, Paris. It is registered in the catalogue raisonné under the number AGD 3896.
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