Galerie Maeght, Paris
Jacques Benador Gallery, Geneva
Pace Wildenstein, New York
O'Hara Gallery, New York
Private Collection, Switzerland
Sale: Tajan, Paris, May 28, 2008, lot 36
Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

Work is in very good condition. Canvas is lined and edges are reinforced with tape. There is a thick layer of varnish on the surface. Under UV light: several strokes of inpainting limited to extreme perimeter to address prior frame abrasion, otherwise fine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Like so many artists before him, Alberto Giacometti frequently turned to his own creative environment for the subject of his🦂 paintings. Bearing the traces of his movements, practices and ideas, the studio is an embodiment of the artist's own persona and artistic instinct; it is the one place in which he and his work are united. The present work, therefore, can be seen as highly introspective. Giacometti captures the very evidence of his own existence - he presents, in effect, a self portrait, which complements the numerous portraits he executed of Annette, Diego and Caroline around the same time.  It invites comparison with the many photographs that were taken of the artist's studio ꧒during his lifetime (fig. 1).

At the same time, the present work is concerned with the act of painting itself, and not with the specificity of objects within the composition. The apparently ordinary subject matter masks an obsession with the relativity of form, contour and space – a problem which vexed Cézanne in each of his still lives. Giacometti is not preoccupied with colour, the rendering of volume or the play of light. All detail is inconsequential. Rather, the minimal palette allows the artist to focus entirely on the vertiginous relationship between form and space, one which affects a distinct sense of claustrophobia. Giacometti's perception of space anguished him during this period. Alluding to the complexity which distinguishes his post-war paintings, he confessed 'I had begun to see heads in the void, in the space that surrounded them' (quoted in Michael Peppiatt, Alberto Giacometti in Postwar Paris, New Haven & London, 2001, p. 7).