Lot Essay
Tériade approached Giacometti, one of his oldest friends, with the idea of making a book on Paris in 1957. The project was discussed, as usual, in one of the popular Parisian cafés, and it was when leaving one of these cafés that Giacometti looked around him at the roads spread out before him and exclaimed, 'Ah! Paris...Paris sans fin!' To which Tériade replied 'Vous avez votre titre'.
Giacometti chose the medium of lithography for this book, in order to achieve the greatest spontaneity. He wrote in the book: 'Oh! l'envie de faire des images de Paris un peu partout, où la vie m'amenait, m'amènerait, la seule possibilité pour cela ce crayon lithographique, ni la peinture, ni le dessin, ce crayon le seul moyen pour faire vite, l'impossibilité de revenir dessus, d'effacer, de gommer, de recommencer'.
Paris sans fin is a visual commentary on the artist's passion for the ever-changing and dynamic city of Paris. Paris was like an extended home to Giacometti. The images are based on personal experiences, representing places where he worked, bars he frequented, streets he walked. One finds Mourlot's studio, the interior of the bar Chez Adrien at the rue Vavin, or a mammoth skeleton in the paleontological museum in the Jardin des Plantes. Whilst intensely personal, they evoke a unique timelessness.
The 150 lithographs which make up Paris sans Fin amount to almost half the artist's entire graphic work. Work on the book was finally completed in 1969 shortly after the artist's death and is often viewed as his last testament.
Giacometti chose the medium of lithography for this book, in order to achieve the greatest spontaneity. He wrote in the book: 'Oh! l'envie de faire des images de Paris un peu partout, où la vie m'amenait, m'amènerait, la seule possibilité pour cela ce crayon lithographique, ni la peinture, ni le dessin, ce crayon le seul moyen pour faire vite, l'impossibilité de revenir dessus, d'effacer, de gommer, de recommencer'.
Paris sans fin is a visual commentary on the artist's passion for the ever-changing and dynamic city of Paris. Paris was like an extended home to Giacometti. The images are based on personal experiences, representing places where he worked, bars he frequented, streets he walked. One finds Mourlot's studio, the interior of the bar Chez Adrien at the rue Vavin, or a mammoth skeleton in the paleontological museum in the Jardin des Plantes. Whilst intensely personal, they evoke a unique timelessness.
The 150 lithographs which make up Paris sans Fin amount to almost half the artist's entire graphic work. Work on the book was finally completed in 1969 shortly after the artist's death and is often viewed as his last testament.