Alberto GIACOMETTI talks about his sculptures and his hard work. 1956.

Alberto GIACOMETTI (1901.1966)

Autographed letter signed to David Thompson.

Two and a half pages in-8°. Paris. October 16, 1956.

"I'm working hard and I hope to come up with something new."

A superb letter from Giacometti evoking his marble sculptures and his hard work.

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"Dear Mr. Thompson, Thank you for your letters and for the photographs of the Beyeler marble in Basel, which I will return 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 . The one belonging to Madame Doesburg was at the Galerie Pierre; I no longer remember at all to whom I sold the Beyeler one. The Beyeler marble 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 will be entering your collection . And I thank you immensely for everything you do for my work , which touches me deeply. It is a great joy for me. I am working very hard and I hope to achieve something new. Very cordial greetings to Madame Thompson and to yourself. Alberto Giacometti. Madame Doesburg Marble ." Made, I believe, in 1929 or 1930, after a sculpture from 1927. Marble, Galerie Beyeler . Made, I believe, in 1930 or perhaps even 1931, after a sculpture from 1927.

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

The year 1956 was a busy one for Alberto Giacometti. Just two weeks earlier, he had finished representing France at the Venice Biennale (June 1 – October 1, 1956). As this letter attests, he was seeking to " achieve something new ." Giacometti was thus entering what would later be called the " Yanaihara Crisis ," a very important artistic phase in his life.

Isaku Yanaihara was a professor of French philosophy at Osaka University when he met Giacometti in 1956. Giacometti was fascinated by Yanaihara's face and began a long series of paintings and sculptures of him. He first created an oil painting in October 1956, followed by numerous other drawings, paintings, and sculptures. Yanaihara posed for him every summer in 1957, 1959, 1960, and 1961.

Note:
The marble sculptures Madame Doesburg's Woman and the Beyeler Gallery's Head That Looks are both now in the Alberto Giacometti Foundation in Switzerland.
The marble sculpture in the Amsterdam museum, mentioned in the letter, is also called Head That Looks and is still in that same museum.