Sometime after 1945, Giacometti stopped making experimental figures only one or two centimeters in height and began to focus on larger ones. By 1947 three main themes had emerged: the walking man, the standing woman, and the bust or head. Without volume or mass, this over-life-size standing woman appears remote, her otherworldliness accentuated by the matte beige paint the artist applied to the bronze. The figure looks as if it has withstood centuries of rough weather that has left its surface crusty and eroded. The pose reflects that of certain ancient Egyptian statues.
Inscription: Signed and inscribed (top of base, right): Alberto Giacometti 3/6
Marking: Inscribed (back of base, lower right): Susse Fondeur/Paris
Pierre Matisse, New York (probably 1958–d. 1989; probably cast and acquired in December 1958); his widow, Maria-Gaetana Matisse, née von Spreti, New York (1989–d. 2001); Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Foundation (2002; gift to MMA)
Humlebaek. Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. "Giacometti," September 17–October 24, 1965, no. 31.
Mexico City. Centro Cultural/Arte Contemporáneo. "Familia Giacometti: Giovanni (1868–1933), Augusto (1877–1947), Alberto (1901–1966), Diego (1902–1985)," April–June, extended to August 15, 1987, no. 27.
Barcelona. Fundació Joan Miró. "Familia Giacometti: Giovanni (1868–1933), Augusto (1877–1947), Alberto (1901–1966), Diego (1902–1985)," September 17–November 22, 1987, no. 27.
New York. Pierpont Morgan Library. "Pierre Matisse and His Artists," February 14–May 19, 2002, no. 20.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection," May 18, 2004–June 26, 2005, no catalogue (checklist no. 19).
New York. PaceWildenstein. "The Women of Giacometti," October 28–December 3, extended to Dec 17, 2005, no. 58.
Dallas. Nasher Sculpture Center. "The Women of Giacometti," January 14–April 9, 2006, no. 58.
Museo Picasso Málaga. "La Colección Pierre y Maria-Gaetana Matisse en The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York," March 26–June 24, 2007, no. 18.
New York. Gagosian Gallery. "Isabel and Other Intimate Strangers: Portraits by Alberto Giacometti and Francis Bacon," November 4–December 12, 2008, unnumbered cat. (p. 24).
Jean-Paul Sartre. Alberto Giacometti: Exhibition of Sculptures, Paintings, Drawings. Exh. cat., Pierre Matisse Gallery. New York, 1948, pp. 1, 15, 34, nos. 21 and 23, ill. p. 30 (not this cast).
Peter Selz. New Images of Man. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1959, p. 153, ill. p. 72 (possibly this cast).
Alberto Giacometti. Exh. cat., Galerie Beyeler. Basel, 1963, no. 30, ill. (not this cast).
H.P. Tschudi and Pierre Oguey. Art suisse au XXe siècle. Exh. cat., Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne. Lausanne, 1964, no. 168 (not this cast).
Peter Selz. Alberto Giacometti. Exh. cat., Museum of Modern Art, New York. New York, 1965, p. 115, nos. 28 and 29, ill. p. 42 (not this cast).
Auswahl von Werken aus dem Kunstbesitz der Vereinigung Zürcher Kunstfreunde. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich. Zurich, 1965, no. 20.
Herta Wescher et al. Giacometti. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle Basel. Basel, 1966, no. 39 (not this cast).
Franz Meyer. Alberto Giacometti: Eine Kunst existentieller Wirklichkeit. Stuttgart, 1968, p. 143, fig. 15.
Jean Leymarie. Alberto Giacometti. Exh. cat., Orangerie des Tuileries. Paris, 1969, p. 150, no. 50, ill. p. 54.
Carlo Huber. Alberto Giacometti. Lausanne, 1970, pp. 53, 60, 62, 66, 124, ill. p. 63.
Jean Leymarie et al. Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966). Exh. cat., Académie de France, Villa Medici. Rome, 1970, no. 17, ill.
Reinhold Hohl. Alberto Giacometti: A Retrospective Exhibition. Exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York, 1974, p. 83, no. 49, ill. (not this cast).
3ème foire internationale d'art contemporain. Exh. cat., Grand Palais. Paris, 1976, pp. 130–31, ill. (possibly this cast).
Jacques Dupin and Michel Leiris. Alberto Giacometti. Exh. cat., Fondation Maeght. Saint-Paul-de-Vence, 1978, p. 86, no. 47, ill. (not this cast).
Jean-Louis Prat et al. Jakometti ten/Alberto Giacometti exposition au Japon. Exh. cat., Seibu Museum of Art. Tokyo, 1983, unpaginated, catalogue raisonné section, no. 98.
Bernard Lamarche-Vadel. Alberto Giacometti. Paris, 1984, pp. 124–26, fig. 175.
André Kuenzi. Alberto Giacometti. Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 1986, p. 269, no. 90, ill.
Axel Matthes, ed. Louis Aragon mit anderen, Wege zu Giacometti. Munich, 1987, pp. 43–44, fig. 5.
Angela Schneider et al. Alberto Giacometti: Skulpturen–Gemälde–Zeichnungen–Graphik. Exh. cat., Nationalgalerie Berlin. Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz. Berlin, 1987, pp. 107–10, 113, no. 81, ill. pp. 111, 202 (not this cast).
Valerie J. Fletcher. Alberto Giacometti, 1901–1966. Exh. cat., Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Washington, D. C., 1988, pp. 42, 66, 119, 132, 134, 139, 240, no. 38, ill. p. 133 (not this cast).
Yves Bonnefoy. Alberto Giacometti: A Biography of His Work. Paris, 1991, pp. 332, 334, fig. 306 (French ed., Paris, 1991).
Suzanne Pagé et al. Alberto Giacometti: Sculptures, peintures, dessins. Exh. cat., Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Paris, 1991, pp. 59–63, 460, no. 83, ill. p. 175 (not this cast).
Christian Klemm et al. Alberto Giacometti. Exh. cat., Kunsthaus Zürich. New York, 2001, p. 276, no. 97, ill. p. 155.
Laurie Wilson. Alberto Giacometti: Myth, Magic, and the Man. New Haven, 2003, pp. 201–7, 238–41.
Carol Vogel. "Met Gets Gift of 100 Works Collected by Son of Matisse." New York Times (February 27, 2003), p. B9.
Sabine Rewald in "Selections from the Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 61 (Spring 2004), p. 46, ill.
Terry Teachout. "The Pierre Matisse Collection: Little New Under the Son." Washington Post no. 5 (June 6, 2004), p. No5.
Felix Baumann and Poul Erik Tojner, ed. Cézanne and Giacometti: Paths of Doubt. Exh. cat., Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. Humlebaek, 2008, p. 165, no. 111, ill. p. 53.
Sabine Rewald. The American Matisse: The Dealer, His Artists, His Collection. The Pierre and Maria-Gaetana Matisse Collection. New York, 2009, pp. 59–60, 154, ill. (color).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2012, pp. 414–15, ill. (color).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2019, p. 415, ill. p. 414 (color).
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. p. 92 (color).
Alberto Giacometti (Swiss, Borgonovo 1901–1966 Chur)
1950
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
