Giacometti remembered that his brother Diego’s cat moved "just like a ray of light," squeezing its lithe and predatory form between close objects without ever touching them. This cat is one of only a few animal sculptures made by Giacometti; the other subjects—a dog and two horses—were also executed in plaster on the same day.
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Inscription: Signed and numbered (right top of base): Alberto Giacometti 1/6
Marking: Inscribed (front of base): Susse Fondeur / Paris
the artist (1954–55, sold in 1955 to Pierre Matisse); [Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1955; sold in 1955 to Hayward]; Leland Hayward, New York (1955–at least 1963)[Marlborough Gallery, New York, until 1968; sold on December 5, 1968 to Gelman]; Jacques and Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1968–his d. 1986); Natasha Gelman, Mexico City and New York (1986–d. 1998; her bequest to MMA)
New York. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Alberto Giacometti," June 8–July 17, 1955, unnumbered cat. (as "Cat," lent by Mr. and Mrs. Leland Hayward, New York).
Washington, D. C. Phillips Collection. "Alberto Giacometti: A Loan Exhibition," February 7–March 4, 1963, no. 18 (lent by Mr. and Mrs. Leland Hayward).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," December 12, 1989–April 1, 1990, unnumbered cat. (p. 263).
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Twentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection," April 19–July 15, 1990, unnumbered cat.
Martigny. Fondation Pierre Gianadda. "De Matisse à Picasso: Collection Jacques et Natasha Gelman," June 18–November 1, 1994, unnumbered cat. (p. 287).
Francis Ponge. "Réflexions sur les statuettes, figures et peintures d’Alberto Giacometti." Cahiers d'art 26 (1951), ill. p. 75 [original plaster].
Harold Rosenberg. "The Art World: Reality at Cockcrow." New Yorker (June 10, 1974), p. 70.
Jacques Dupin inAlberto Giacometti. Exh. cat., Fondation Maeght. Saint–Paul, France, 1978, p. 35.
Sabine Rewald inTwentieth-Century Modern Masters: The Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection. Ed. William S. Lieberman. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1989, p. 300, ill.
Ernst Scheidegger. Alberto Giacometti: Traces d'une amitié. Paris, 1991, p. 110, ill. p. 140 (not this edition).
Alejandro Cesarco. "Alberto Giacometti and Balthus in Gallery 907." The Artist Project: What Artists See When They Look at Art. Ed. Chris Noey. New York, 2017, ill. p. 55. (color, installation view).
Alberto Giacometti (Swiss, Borgonovo 1901–1966 Chur)
ca. 1951
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