Alberto GIACOMETTI and his original marbles.

Alberto GIACOMETTI (1901.1966)

Autograph letter signed to David Thompson.

Two ½ in-8° pages. Paris. October 16, 1956.

“I work a lot and I hope to have something new. »

Superb letter from Giacometti written at the beginning of his “Yanaihara Crisis”

“Dear Mr. Thompson, Thank you for your letters and for the photographs of the Beyeler marble in Basel which I will send back to you signed. These two marbles are very different from each other but they were made around the same time, and they are original marbles . Madame Doesburg’s was at the Galerie Pierre; I don't remember at all who I sold Beyeler's to. Beyeler's is the same subject as the marble in the Amsterdam museum but it is very different. It gives me great pleasure that these two marbles are included in your collection . And I thank you very much for everything you do for my work and which means a lot to me. It is a great joy for me. I work a lot and I hope to have something new. Very cordial greetings to Mrs. Thompson and yourself. Alberto Giacometti. Madame Doesburg marble . Made I believe in 1929 or 30 after a sculpture from 1927. Marble Galerie Beyeler . Made I believe in 1930 or maybe even 31 after a sculpture from 1927”

Giacometti is delighted here with the acquisition of two of his marbles by one of his most fervent private collectors, David Thompson (1899-1965). This American engineer made his fortune in finance during the Great Depression. Its important collection of modern art included, in addition to the works of Giacometti, those of Paul Klee, Jean Dubuffet, Joan Miró, Henry Moore…

The year 1956 was full of work for Alberto Giacometti. A fortnight earlier, he had finished representing France at the Venice Biennale (June 1 – October 1, 1956). As evidenced by this letter, he seeks to “ achieve something new ”. Giacometti was thus plunging into what would later be called the “ Yanaihara Crisis ”, a very important artistic phase of his life.

Isaku Yanaihara was a professor of French philosophy at Osaka University and met Giacometti in 1956. The latter was fascinated by his face; he then began a long series of paintings and sculptures in his likeness. He first produced an oil painting in October 1956. Many other drawings, paintings and sculptures followed. He had Yanaihara pose every summer in 1957, 1959, 1960 and 1961.

Note:
The marbles of Madame Doesburg Femme and Galerie Beyeler Tête qui gazer are both today in the Alberto Giacometti Stiftung in Switzerland.
The marble from the Amsterdam Museum, cited in the letter, is also called Looking Head and is still in the same museum today.