Property from the Collection of Lee V. Eastman For over 30 years, Lee Eastman was a central figure in the New York art world. During his lifetime he had witnessed the city's ascent from provincial backwater to world art capital; and in his special role both as sometime legal advisor to artists and as passionate collector of their works, he had befriended many of the painters who had brought about this metamorphosis, including Hans Hofmann, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, and, above all, Willem de Kooning. His collection, which had been put together painstakingly over many years, with moderate means, became justly famous, both for its consistently high quality and for its legendary holdings of works by de Kooning. Christie's is privileged to offer 24 superb works by this artist in our sales of Post-War and Contemporary Art on November 8th and 9th, ranging from exquisite drawings and gouaches of the 1940's and 50's, to major sculpture and to great oil masterpieces of the 1970's. These are accompanied by equally judiciously chosen works by de Kooning's peers, including a powerful Kline oil of 1960, a beautiful oil on paper by Rothko of the same date, Motherwell's iconic Spanish Elegy #122, an early Guston oil, two constructions by Joseph Cornell, and many others. Lee Eastman's connoisseurship extended equally to the great 20th century European masters, including Matisse, Giacometti, Lipchitz and, not least, Picasso, who was such a formative influence on the young de Kooning. Important works by these artists and others from the Eastman collection will be offered in Christie's Impressionist and Modern Art sales on November 1st and 2nd. Picasso is brilliantly represented by many works, including his searing small portrait of Dora Maar of 1939, Buste de Femme; by his Atelier of 1955, a vivacious interpretation of his studio interior at La Californie in Cannes and by one of the small gems of the Eastman collection, his 1937 drawing of Père Ubu, with its remarkable poem by the artist. The collection was rich in sculpture as is demonstrated by the great Matisse bronze, Grand nu accroupi (Olga) of 1909-10, an abstracted portrait of the Russian painter Olga Meerson, as well as by two important cubist Lipchitz bronzes, one of 1917 the other of 1928. Of particular interest, too, are the important bronzes by Giacometti, one a transitional early head, Isabel I (L'Egyptienne), an elegant portrait of the young Englishwoman, Isabel Nicholas, conceived in 1936, the other a profoundly moving and exceptionally fine portrait bust of his brother Diego, conceived in 1957. On a personal note, my old collection books record that I first contacted the Eastmans in December of 1973, shortly after I had moved to New York; and that they were gracious enough, on January 4th 1974, to invite me, a complete stranger, to the first of several enthralling and stimulating tours of this magnificent collection. I am honored to be involved, nearly 32 years later, in steering so many wonderful works of art from this great pioneering assemblage into the hands of a new generation of buyers, all of whom will owe a debt to Lee Eastman's collecting zeal and to his intelligent and incisive eye. Christopher Burge Honorary Chairman Lee Eastman, East Hampton, 1965. Photograph by Linda McCarthy. BARCODE 23661196 Property from the Collection of Lee V. Eastman

Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)

Table à la suspension (stampa)

Details

Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966)
Table à la suspension (stampa)
signed and dated 'Alberto Giacometti 1960' (lower right)
pencil on paper
19 7/8 x 13 in. (50.4 x 33 cm.)
Drawn in 1960

Provenance

Galerie Claude Bernard, Paris.

Lot Essay

In 1954, Giacometti made an important series of interior drawings depicting his mother seated at a table, reading or writing, beneath a large chandelier in his family's home in Stampa. He returned to this theme in one of his best-known lithographs, La suspension (Lust, no. 29), a particular favorite of the artist, published in 1959 by Galerie Maeght. The present drawing, completed the following year, shows a similar view of the room, but in place of the figure, Giacometti substituted a still-life subject in the center of the composition. As in the lithograph, there is a sideboard in the background, where the artist displayed various sculpted busts upon, and above it he hung a group of framed paintings and drawings. The space in this drawing appears deeper than that in the lithograph, an effect that stems from the receding distance created by the placement of the chairs in the fore- and middle ground, which is mirrored in the room perspective seen in the upper part of the composition.

The Alberto and Annette Giacometti Foundation will include this work in their forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Alberto Giacometti.

The Association Alberto and Annette Giacometti has confirmed the authenticity of this work and is titling it Intérieur à Stampa.

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