Label:
Alberto Giacometti stands among the most celebrated Surrealist sculptors. He moved to Paris in 1922 and became closely involved with the movement between 1931 and 1935. This early abstract sculpture has a totemic quality that reflects the artist’s interest in traditional African statuary. The allure of difference represented by non-Western cultures is a common thread throughout modern art, and it marked Surrealism very strongly.

Provenance

A. E. Gallatin, New York, acquired by February 1935 (possibly summer 1934), probably from a Paris gallery [1]; bequest to PMA, 1952. 1. Gail Stavitsky suggests that Gallatin may have purchased it from Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Galerie Pierre, or Galerie Pierre Colle (see The Development, Institutionalization, and Impact of the A.E. Gallatin Collection of Modern Art, [Ph.D. dissertation, New York University], 1990, v. 7, p. 89, and v. 1, p. 263).