Lot Essay
Femme qui marche was executed at a time when Giacometti made his most important and innovative contributions to modern sculpture. In "Quelques notes sur les sculptures de Giacometti", Cahiers d'Art, Paris, 1932, the year that Femme qui marche was executed, Christian Zervos wrote: "Giacometti est le premier parmi les jeunes sculpteurs qui a profité largement de la leçon de ses aînés [Brancusi, Laurens, Lipchitz]. Quant à la nouveauté de sa sculpture elle est, on l'a vu, dans l'expression toute personelle, dans le goût de l'aventure, dans la curiosité spirituelle de l'artiste, surtout dans la force première qui prend toujours le dessus. Giacometti est, à l'heure actuelle, le seul jeune sculpteur dont l'oeuvre confirme et prolonge les directions nouvelles de la sculpture".
In 1929 he had befriended and become a member of the Surrealist group and his inventiveness was to have an enormous influence on Miró, Arp, Dalí, André Breton and their circle. He exhibited regularly at Surrealist shows at Galerie Bernheim, Galerie Pierre Loeb and Galerie Pierre Colle. Pivotal works executed between 1929 and 1932 include Boule suspendue, purchased by Breton at Galerie Pierre in 1930, Model au Square, now in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Le Palais à 4 A.M., Femme égorgée and the present sculpture, Femme qui marche. The last of these two works, both executed in 1932, are almost antithetical; Femme égorgée is a complex and violent composition whilst Femme qui marche is simple, serene and monumental. It is difficult to believe that both could have been executed by Giacometti in the same year. However it is this very antithesis that heralds a signficant change in Giacometti's work. Femme qui marche represents Giacometti's first full-size representational figure, a theme which would preoccupy his work for the rest of his life.
Giacometti drew the inspiration for his early figurative sculptures from many sources. Above all in early religious and tribal sculptures he found a spirit of calm and divinity which he sought to mirror in his own work. Quoted in Reinhold Hohl's monograph Giacometti, Giacometti stated "Les premières sculptures égyptiennes qu'on apporte en Grèce faisaient le mouvement de marcher. Les Grecs les attachaient la nuit pour qu'elles ne s'en ailllent pas. Ils croyaient qu'elles pouvaient prendre vie. Au Moyen-Age encore, on se demande ce qu'était réellement une Vierge, ou une sculpture de cathédrale. Même aujourd'hui, je pense que pour énormément de gens une sculpture est un objet voisin de la divinité; qu'on adore; qu'on craint; et qui devient bel et bien un double".
Originally made in plaster without a base, the sculpture was first exhibited in a Surrealist group show at Galerie Pierre Colle in Paris in 1933. Prior to this it appears in studio drawings executed in the spring of 1932 (see fig. 1). In these early years the piece was sometimes exhibited with playful additions such as a head consisting of the neck scroll from a cello or wooden arms ending with claws or feathers for hands. However, by 1936 when the piece was exhibited at the Burlington Gallery in London, Giacometti had set the playful years of Surrealism behind him and the piece was exhibited in its original pure form. Some time afterwards the plaster was acquired by Erica Brausen of London's celebrated Hanover Gallery.
The great majority of Giacometti's most important bronzes from the Surrealist period, including many of those mentioned above, were not cast until the late '40s or '50s. Femme qui marche is no exception. In 1955 Erica Brausen obtained permission from Giacometti to work on a numbered edition of four whose casting was to be overseen and executed by the Fiorini foundry. The casts were extremely successful and the edition has in common a very rich, deep patina. The current whereabouts of each bronze is as follows:
I/IV - the present sculpture
II/IV - Moderna Museet, Stockholm
III/IV - private collection; previously J. B. Urvater, by whom sold at Sotheby's London, 7 July 1971, lot 44, ¨52,000, to J. Inman
IV/IV - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Henry Lee Higginson and William
Francis Warden Funds
At a later date, three other casts were made as well as examples given to the Tate Gallery, London, and the Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark. The museum casts are marked Épreuve Tate Gallery and Épreuve Louisiana Museum respectively.
The present sculpture has remained in private hands since its sale at Sotheby's in 1964. The work is documented and recorded in the Giacometti archive and will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by the Association Alberto et Annette Giacometti.
In 1929 he had befriended and become a member of the Surrealist group and his inventiveness was to have an enormous influence on Miró, Arp, Dalí, André Breton and their circle. He exhibited regularly at Surrealist shows at Galerie Bernheim, Galerie Pierre Loeb and Galerie Pierre Colle. Pivotal works executed between 1929 and 1932 include Boule suspendue, purchased by Breton at Galerie Pierre in 1930, Model au Square, now in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Le Palais à 4 A.M., Femme égorgée and the present sculpture, Femme qui marche. The last of these two works, both executed in 1932, are almost antithetical; Femme égorgée is a complex and violent composition whilst Femme qui marche is simple, serene and monumental. It is difficult to believe that both could have been executed by Giacometti in the same year. However it is this very antithesis that heralds a signficant change in Giacometti's work. Femme qui marche represents Giacometti's first full-size representational figure, a theme which would preoccupy his work for the rest of his life.
Giacometti drew the inspiration for his early figurative sculptures from many sources. Above all in early religious and tribal sculptures he found a spirit of calm and divinity which he sought to mirror in his own work. Quoted in Reinhold Hohl's monograph Giacometti, Giacometti stated "Les premières sculptures égyptiennes qu'on apporte en Grèce faisaient le mouvement de marcher. Les Grecs les attachaient la nuit pour qu'elles ne s'en ailllent pas. Ils croyaient qu'elles pouvaient prendre vie. Au Moyen-Age encore, on se demande ce qu'était réellement une Vierge, ou une sculpture de cathédrale. Même aujourd'hui, je pense que pour énormément de gens une sculpture est un objet voisin de la divinité; qu'on adore; qu'on craint; et qui devient bel et bien un double".
Originally made in plaster without a base, the sculpture was first exhibited in a Surrealist group show at Galerie Pierre Colle in Paris in 1933. Prior to this it appears in studio drawings executed in the spring of 1932 (see fig. 1). In these early years the piece was sometimes exhibited with playful additions such as a head consisting of the neck scroll from a cello or wooden arms ending with claws or feathers for hands. However, by 1936 when the piece was exhibited at the Burlington Gallery in London, Giacometti had set the playful years of Surrealism behind him and the piece was exhibited in its original pure form. Some time afterwards the plaster was acquired by Erica Brausen of London's celebrated Hanover Gallery.
The great majority of Giacometti's most important bronzes from the Surrealist period, including many of those mentioned above, were not cast until the late '40s or '50s. Femme qui marche is no exception. In 1955 Erica Brausen obtained permission from Giacometti to work on a numbered edition of four whose casting was to be overseen and executed by the Fiorini foundry. The casts were extremely successful and the edition has in common a very rich, deep patina. The current whereabouts of each bronze is as follows:
I/IV - the present sculpture
II/IV - Moderna Museet, Stockholm
III/IV - private collection; previously J. B. Urvater, by whom sold at Sotheby's London, 7 July 1971, lot 44, ¨52,000, to J. Inman
IV/IV - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Henry Lee Higginson and William
Francis Warden Funds
At a later date, three other casts were made as well as examples given to the Tate Gallery, London, and the Louisiana Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark. The museum casts are marked Épreuve Tate Gallery and Épreuve Louisiana Museum respectively.
The present sculpture has remained in private hands since its sale at Sotheby's in 1964. The work is documented and recorded in the Giacometti archive and will be included in the forthcoming Catalogue raisonné currently being prepared by the Association Alberto et Annette Giacometti.