Gaston-Lou꧑is Roux, Paris (acqu✅ired from the artist)

Loeb & Krugier Gallery, New  York

Private Collection (sold: So⭕theby Parke Bernet Inc., New York, October 17, 1973, lot 86)

Pace Gallery, New York

Acquired from the above in 1978

Jacques Dupin, Alberto Giacometti, Paris, 1962, illustration of the plaster p. 277

Good condition. There is a 3mm nick on the back of the head with associated patina loss. There are some hairline fissures to the bottom of the shaft where it connects with the base, also visible from the underside of the base. There is a casting plug visible to the rear, which is consistent with the casting process. Apart from some minor wear to the patina consistent with age and handling to the edges of the base and neck, this work is in good condition.
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.

The present work is an iconic rendering of Giacom🅘etti's younger brother Diego, arguably his most important model, who played a central role in the artist's personal and professional life. Diego devoted a major part of his own artistic career to assisting Alberto with his sculpture and supervising the casting of his bronzes. By the early 1950s, Alberto had gained considerable critical recognition in Paris and had amassed a broad clientele, while Diego had just begun to design the bronze furniture which would finally make him famous in his own right. Well aware of his younger brother's talent, Alberto encouraged Diego to pursue his own career. Nevertheless, Alberto relied heavily upon his brother's expertise and recognized him as indispensable in the production of the numerous innovative sculptures.  The present work from 1958 provides one of Alberto's more realistic portrayals of his brother's features, calling attention to the complexity of the human psychye and the transfixing, psychological power of the younger man's gaze.

 

Discussing the sculptures executed during this period, Yves Bonnefoy wrote: 'These sculpted faces compel one to face them as if one were speaking to the person, meeting his eyes and thereby understanding better the compression, the narrowing that Giacometti imposed on the chin or the nose or the general shape of the skull. This was the period when Giacometti was most strongly conscious of the fact that the inside of the plaster or clay mass which he modelled was something inert, undifferentiated, nocturnal, that it betrays the life he sought to represent, and that he must therefore strive to eliminate this purely spatial dimension by constricting the material to fit the most prominent characteristics of the face. This is exactly what he achieves with amazing vigour when, occasionally, he gave Diego's face a blade-like narrowness - drawing seems to have eliminated the plaster, the head has escaped from space - and demands therefore that the spectator stand in front of the sculpture as he did himself, disregarding the back and sides of his model and as bound to a face-to-face relationship' (Y. Bonnefoy, Alberto Giacometti, A Biography of his Work, Paris, 1991, p. 432).