Femme Debout by Giacometti
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Giacometti Giacometti 1947-53 The Woman Sculpture
Chronology : 1948 1950-1959 1952 1958 1960 1976 1980
See also : Giacometti Giacometti 1947-53 The Woman Sculpture
Chronology : 1948 1950-1959 1952 1958 1960 1976 1980
Intro
After the war Alberto Giacometti reinstalled himself in his Parisian studio which had been carefully maintained by Diego. His life is stabilized by his meeting with Annette. He wants to exhibit through his sculptures his own view about the human nature, close to Sartre's existentialism.
Alberto appreciates that some new art is required and that his diminutive sculptures will not appeal anybody. His characters will now be life-size. They will be threadlike as the floor lamps that the artist formerly conceived for Jean-Michel Frank, fragile in their bodies and solid in their bronze. These humans are not identifiable but the original plaster tirelessly kneaded by the artist's hand brings them a tormented texture that resembles their creator.
The seminal story of his new creativity takes place immediately after the war, tentatively in 1945. He goes to the cinema in Montparnasse. On the boulevard, he sees men walking and women standing. Everyone knows the reason for his or her immediate action, which is not accessible to others. A crowd is a gathering of lonely characters. Alberto is no longer inspired by cinema, which is nothing more than a projection of light on a screen. He decides that his art will be closer to real life.
Pierre Matisse is interested and promises to organize an exhibition in New York in January 1948 of this art which, in October 1947, does not yet exist. The works must be designed and the bronzes have to be melt. The artist is in a hurry which is not his usual practice. The meeting with the agents of the foundry is scheduled for the next morning. Alberto is not ready.
He is not happy with his prototype and demolishes it. In a night of frenzied creation, he realizes L'Homme au doigt. When it is carried out for the factory, the plaster is achieved but it is still wet. Seven bronzes including an artist's proof are edited by the Alexis Rudier company.
The man points the finger to show the way to the other two sculptures in the trilogy, L'Homme qui marche and his opposite the everlasting Femme debout. This horizontal finger is a sign of authority, hope and renewal. L'Homme au doigt emits the founding message before disappearing from Alberto's creations, unlike the other two figures that will accompany his whole career,
The plaster had been kneaded in a hurry, giving a tormented and scarred texture from which some observers said that L'Homme au doigt is Alberto's self portrait. One bronze, the number 6/6, was hand-painted by the artist. It strengthens the resemblance. The pointing man is not God between Adam and Eve, he is Alberto, the creative artist.
This number 6/6 178 cm high is the most outstanding piece of bronze by Alberto. It was sold for $ 140M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 29A.
Man is walking with energy but nobody knows why, not even the character. The energy of his step is useful, or not, his compass shaped legs prophesying the imbalance of the future. Woman is waiting and passive. She however must have a role, like the tree in the forest.
The attitude of the frail and stoic femme debout will remain unchanged throughout Alberto's career as if this perfectionist artist had at first found how to express the timeless woman. With her strictly joined legs she is inspired from the Egyptian anthropomorphic coffins. Gilt or perched on a chariot to be worshiped, she is the mother goddess of Alberto's existentialist pantheon.
Other figures will soon be created as well as groups and busts.
Alberto appreciates that some new art is required and that his diminutive sculptures will not appeal anybody. His characters will now be life-size. They will be threadlike as the floor lamps that the artist formerly conceived for Jean-Michel Frank, fragile in their bodies and solid in their bronze. These humans are not identifiable but the original plaster tirelessly kneaded by the artist's hand brings them a tormented texture that resembles their creator.
The seminal story of his new creativity takes place immediately after the war, tentatively in 1945. He goes to the cinema in Montparnasse. On the boulevard, he sees men walking and women standing. Everyone knows the reason for his or her immediate action, which is not accessible to others. A crowd is a gathering of lonely characters. Alberto is no longer inspired by cinema, which is nothing more than a projection of light on a screen. He decides that his art will be closer to real life.
Pierre Matisse is interested and promises to organize an exhibition in New York in January 1948 of this art which, in October 1947, does not yet exist. The works must be designed and the bronzes have to be melt. The artist is in a hurry which is not his usual practice. The meeting with the agents of the foundry is scheduled for the next morning. Alberto is not ready.
He is not happy with his prototype and demolishes it. In a night of frenzied creation, he realizes L'Homme au doigt. When it is carried out for the factory, the plaster is achieved but it is still wet. Seven bronzes including an artist's proof are edited by the Alexis Rudier company.
The man points the finger to show the way to the other two sculptures in the trilogy, L'Homme qui marche and his opposite the everlasting Femme debout. This horizontal finger is a sign of authority, hope and renewal. L'Homme au doigt emits the founding message before disappearing from Alberto's creations, unlike the other two figures that will accompany his whole career,
The plaster had been kneaded in a hurry, giving a tormented and scarred texture from which some observers said that L'Homme au doigt is Alberto's self portrait. One bronze, the number 6/6, was hand-painted by the artist. It strengthens the resemblance. The pointing man is not God between Adam and Eve, he is Alberto, the creative artist.
This number 6/6 178 cm high is the most outstanding piece of bronze by Alberto. It was sold for $ 140M by Christie's on May 11, 2015, lot 29A.
Man is walking with energy but nobody knows why, not even the character. The energy of his step is useful, or not, his compass shaped legs prophesying the imbalance of the future. Woman is waiting and passive. She however must have a role, like the tree in the forest.
The attitude of the frail and stoic femme debout will remain unchanged throughout Alberto's career as if this perfectionist artist had at first found how to express the timeless woman. With her strictly joined legs she is inspired from the Egyptian anthropomorphic coffins. Gilt or perched on a chariot to be worshiped, she is the mother goddess of Alberto's existentialist pantheon.
Other figures will soon be created as well as groups and busts.
1948 Grande Figure
2017 SOLD for £ 18M by Sotheby's
On June 21, 2017, Sotheby's sold for £ 18M Grande Figure, a bronze 1.30 m high in a patina of dark gold color, lot 57. Cast as a unique copy by the Alexis Rudier company in Paris in 1948 from a plaster dated 1947, it is one of the earliest large size examples of Alberto's standing woman.
1951-1952 Le Chariot
2014 SOLD for $ 101M by Sotheby's
Alberto Giacometti had been close to the Surrealists. The theme of the woman on the chariot was inscribed in his mind from 1938. It remained therein for twelve years during which the artist tried a few tests, sometimes with rotating wheels.
In 1948, Alberto populates his universe with his wire-like characters who question the existentialism. Men walk with energy without knowing where they are going. In contrast, women are straight and motionless.
The woman is still an ancient idol whose authority may not be challenged. She brings peace and truth. In Alberto's dream, she is perched on a pedestal placed on the axle of an antique chariot with very high wheels. This is the great paradox of Giacometti : the motionless woman symbolizes the movement because she is worshiped on the chariot.
Alberto is a perfectionist. He waits until 1950 to execute his fantasy. Any detail is important, such as the tightly attached legs. The arms are away from the body in a gesture of glory or freedom, but the angle of the elbows disappears when the sculpture is viewed from front. The work is of medium size, 1.45 m high, because it must not be intimidating or diminutive.
The bronze cast in 1951-1952 is a technical feat by Alexis Rudier company. The number 2/6 was sold for $ 101M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 25. This is an exceptional specimen by its golden patina that glorifies the subject and also because it has been carefully painted by the artist.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
In 1948, Alberto populates his universe with his wire-like characters who question the existentialism. Men walk with energy without knowing where they are going. In contrast, women are straight and motionless.
The woman is still an ancient idol whose authority may not be challenged. She brings peace and truth. In Alberto's dream, she is perched on a pedestal placed on the axle of an antique chariot with very high wheels. This is the great paradox of Giacometti : the motionless woman symbolizes the movement because she is worshiped on the chariot.
Alberto is a perfectionist. He waits until 1950 to execute his fantasy. Any detail is important, such as the tightly attached legs. The arms are away from the body in a gesture of glory or freedom, but the angle of the elbows disappears when the sculpture is viewed from front. The work is of medium size, 1.45 m high, because it must not be intimidating or diminutive.
The bronze cast in 1951-1952 is a technical feat by Alexis Rudier company. The number 2/6 was sold for $ 101M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2014, lot 25. This is an exceptional specimen by its golden patina that glorifies the subject and also because it has been carefully painted by the artist.
Please watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
Femme qui marche
1
1955 (I)
2022 SOLD for € 27M by Christie's
The post war masterpieces by Alberto Giacometti have their root in Surrealism. He makes in 1932 a near life size plaster of a headless Femme qui marche. Without arms like a sort of fashion mannequin, she comes in the follow of the lampposts conceived by him for Jean-Michel Frank. A hollow in the upper torso means that it is a piece of decoration as well as a female figure.
He then adds to his plaster some surrealist artifacts in the place of the missing arms and head, possibly in a vain attempt to interest Breton.
That Femme qui marche is in a full nudity with girlish breast. The elongated profile with a leg slightly ahead of the other for walking may be a graceful reminiscence of the antique Egyptian art. The smooth surface does not anticipate the hectic post war kneading. She is altogether a precursor of the femme debout, of the homme qui marche and of the woman on the chariot.
Four bronzes plus one artist's proof of that seminal Femme qui marche (I) 150 cm high were cast in 1955 in an English foundry at the request of a gallery owner in London. The number III/IV, 150 cm high with a dark brown patina, was sold for € 27M by Christie's on June 14, 2022, lot 20 in the sale of the Hubert de Givenchy collection.
Breton fired Giacometti from the Surrealist group in 1935.
He then adds to his plaster some surrealist artifacts in the place of the missing arms and head, possibly in a vain attempt to interest Breton.
That Femme qui marche is in a full nudity with girlish breast. The elongated profile with a leg slightly ahead of the other for walking may be a graceful reminiscence of the antique Egyptian art. The smooth surface does not anticipate the hectic post war kneading. She is altogether a precursor of the femme debout, of the homme qui marche and of the woman on the chariot.
Four bronzes plus one artist's proof of that seminal Femme qui marche (I) 150 cm high were cast in 1955 in an English foundry at the request of a gallery owner in London. The number III/IV, 150 cm high with a dark brown patina, was sold for € 27M by Christie's on June 14, 2022, lot 20 in the sale of the Hubert de Givenchy collection.
Breton fired Giacometti from the Surrealist group in 1935.
2
1961 (II)
2024 SOLD for $ 26.6M by Christie's
After the Femme qui marche (I), Giacometti made in 1936 another plaster of similar size on request by Pierre Matisse, again without head and arms. For a more natural effect of the female shapes, he added flexibility and asymmetry in the pose and suppressed the unexplained cavity in the torso. The reduced space between the legs anticipates more closely the post war Femme debout. He also slightly tilted the body.
The plaster was acquired in 1941 from Matisse by Peggy Guggenheim. Giacometti had a bronze prepared for her collection. She commissioned in 1960 the cast of 5 additional bronzes. Another example numbered 0 was cast by the same foundry in 1961 for Alberto to present it to the doctor who was healing his mother.
Femme qui marche (II) number 0, 146 cm high bronze with dark patina, is estimated $ 20M for sale by Christie's on November 19, 2024, lot 37A. Its conception has been dated 1932-36 below the signature of the artist on top of the base.
The plaster was acquired in 1941 from Matisse by Peggy Guggenheim. Giacometti had a bronze prepared for her collection. She commissioned in 1960 the cast of 5 additional bronzes. Another example numbered 0 was cast by the same foundry in 1961 for Alberto to present it to the doctor who was healing his mother.
Femme qui marche (II) number 0, 146 cm high bronze with dark patina, is estimated $ 20M for sale by Christie's on November 19, 2024, lot 37A. Its conception has been dated 1932-36 below the signature of the artist on top of the base.
1958 Femme de Venise
Intro
After various stagings alone or in groups amidst walking men, the standing woman survives the existentialism.
In 1956 retrospective exhibitions of Alberto's work are planned in Venice and Bern. He reacts like a real great artist. His past is not essential but the long march of a creative process that is not finished. He decides to do something new.
He chooses the figure of the nude woman standing still, feet together. He will show that this model allows a subtle variation in the expression of feelings. He will not do it as portraits but as his interpretation of the ideal woman. The most important is the texture that brings realism to non-proportioned bodies.
On a single armature, Alberto kneads the clay. He does not want to be influenced excepted by his own emotions which may change every next day. When finally satisfied, he leaves it to Diego who casts the plaster, releasing the frame for the next job. It is an art to be touched, admired by Genet.
About fifteen female figures are created in this intense process. Ten plasters are accepted, and divided between the two exhibitions in Bern and Venice.
The plaster is not the final state of the project because it does not have the expressive possibilities of bronze. Nine women are edited in small series : five of them were in the group of Venice, two in Bern and two had not been exhibited. The set is now known under the generic name of Femmes de Venise, I to IX. The group is first displayed together in 1958 at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York.
They are different from one another. For example, I and IV are the more anatomical while II, III, VII and IX are more abstract.
The bronzes listed below were cast by Susse in Paris.
In 1956 retrospective exhibitions of Alberto's work are planned in Venice and Bern. He reacts like a real great artist. His past is not essential but the long march of a creative process that is not finished. He decides to do something new.
He chooses the figure of the nude woman standing still, feet together. He will show that this model allows a subtle variation in the expression of feelings. He will not do it as portraits but as his interpretation of the ideal woman. The most important is the texture that brings realism to non-proportioned bodies.
On a single armature, Alberto kneads the clay. He does not want to be influenced excepted by his own emotions which may change every next day. When finally satisfied, he leaves it to Diego who casts the plaster, releasing the frame for the next job. It is an art to be touched, admired by Genet.
About fifteen female figures are created in this intense process. Ten plasters are accepted, and divided between the two exhibitions in Bern and Venice.
The plaster is not the final state of the project because it does not have the expressive possibilities of bronze. Nine women are edited in small series : five of them were in the group of Venice, two in Bern and two had not been exhibited. The set is now known under the generic name of Femmes de Venise, I to IX. The group is first displayed together in 1958 at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York.
They are different from one another. For example, I and IV are the more anatomical while II, III, VII and IX are more abstract.
The bronzes listed below were cast by Susse in Paris.
1
III
2022 SOLD for $ 25M by Christie's
The Femme de Venise III number 5/6, 1.18 m high, cast in 1958 with a brown and green patina, was sold for $ 25M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Christie's on November 9, 2022, lot 32.
2
I
2025 SOLD for $ 17.7M by Christie's
The Femme de Venise I number 6/6, 1.05 m high, cast by Susse in 1958 with a brown and green patina, was sold for $ 17.7M from a lower estimate of $ 15M for sale by Christie's on May 12, 2025, lot 7A.
Its conception had been made early in the series. Its plaster had been among those exhibited in Venice in 1956. This realistic figure has full breasts, narrow waist and rounded hips.
La Femme de Venise IV has the specific feature of arms well freed from the body. Elbows are turned behind and accentuate the curving of the back, providing a physical presence and an authoritative look that the other Femmes do not have.
Giacometti knows that the lack of coloring of a sculpture is a decadence of modern art in comparison to ancient, medieval or tribal art. That number 2/6 has a unique feature. It came back into the hands of the artist who painted the genital area in flesh color amidst the overall gray-green patina.
On May 6, 2014, Christie's sold at lot 33 for $ 12.7M the number 2/6 of La Femme de Venise IV, 115 cm high, cast in bronze by Susse in 1957 and painted by Alberto.
A Femme de Venise VIII cast in 1957, 1.22 m high, was sold for $ 10.1M by Sotheby's on May 7, 2008, lot 20. A number 0/6 of the Femme de Venise VIII, edited posthumously in 1973, was sold for $ 12.7M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 26.
A posthumous Femme de Venise II cast in 1976, 122 cm high, was sold for $ 17.6M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2022, lot 26. This piece numbered 0/6 had certainly been made for the use of Alberto's widow Annette who was its first owner. II is the second highest Femme of the group of nine.
Its conception had been made early in the series. Its plaster had been among those exhibited in Venice in 1956. This realistic figure has full breasts, narrow waist and rounded hips.
La Femme de Venise IV has the specific feature of arms well freed from the body. Elbows are turned behind and accentuate the curving of the back, providing a physical presence and an authoritative look that the other Femmes do not have.
Giacometti knows that the lack of coloring of a sculpture is a decadence of modern art in comparison to ancient, medieval or tribal art. That number 2/6 has a unique feature. It came back into the hands of the artist who painted the genital area in flesh color amidst the overall gray-green patina.
On May 6, 2014, Christie's sold at lot 33 for $ 12.7M the number 2/6 of La Femme de Venise IV, 115 cm high, cast in bronze by Susse in 1957 and painted by Alberto.
A Femme de Venise VIII cast in 1957, 1.22 m high, was sold for $ 10.1M by Sotheby's on May 7, 2008, lot 20. A number 0/6 of the Femme de Venise VIII, edited posthumously in 1973, was sold for $ 12.7M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2023, lot 26.
A posthumous Femme de Venise II cast in 1976, 122 cm high, was sold for $ 17.6M by Sotheby's on May 17, 2022, lot 26. This piece numbered 0/6 had certainly been made for the use of Alberto's widow Annette who was its first owner. II is the second highest Femme of the group of nine.
Femme Leoni
1
1958 3/6
2020 SOLD for $ 26M by Sotheby's
An unused plaster surfaced in 1956 in an exhibition in Bern alongside several Femmes de Venise. The woman is standing straight on an inclined plan, her legs and feet together, inspired by antique Egyptian female deities. She is near life size in height.
It is a portrait of Isabel Nicholas prepared in 1947 beside the life size Homme au doigt.
Isabel Nicholas, who became Isabel Rawsthorne by her third marriage in 1954, was an artist. Sexually liberated in the wake of the existentialism, she was the muse and lover of Alberto Giacometti just before and just after the Second World War and contributed to the development of the new artistic style emphasizing the psychological expression for superseding the figurative realism.
This model was edited in 1957 after a rework of the feet by Alberto to improve stability. The first bronze had been commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim for her Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in Venice and supplied to her in November 1957. It was titled Femme Leoni by the artist. This bronze is not numbered.
A bronze numbered 3/6 cast ca 1958 by Susse was sold for $ 26M by Sotheby's on October 28, 2020, lot 112, and for $ 22.3M by Christie's on May 16, 2024, lot 20 B. Its height is 165 cm including the artist's base.
It is a portrait of Isabel Nicholas prepared in 1947 beside the life size Homme au doigt.
Isabel Nicholas, who became Isabel Rawsthorne by her third marriage in 1954, was an artist. Sexually liberated in the wake of the existentialism, she was the muse and lover of Alberto Giacometti just before and just after the Second World War and contributed to the development of the new artistic style emphasizing the psychological expression for superseding the figurative realism.
This model was edited in 1957 after a rework of the feet by Alberto to improve stability. The first bronze had been commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim for her Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in Venice and supplied to her in November 1957. It was titled Femme Leoni by the artist. This bronze is not numbered.
A bronze numbered 3/6 cast ca 1958 by Susse was sold for $ 26M by Sotheby's on October 28, 2020, lot 112, and for $ 22.3M by Christie's on May 16, 2024, lot 20 B. Its height is 165 cm including the artist's base.
2
1960 6/6
2023 SOLD for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's
The number 6/6 of the Femme Leoni was cast by Susse in 1960. It is 153 cm high and does not have a base below the inclined plane.
It was sold for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2023, lot 129.
It was sold for $ 28.5M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2023, lot 129.
1961 Grande Femme Debout
2008 SOLD for $ 27.5M by Christie's
Alberto Giacometti was enthusiastic about the project of decoration of the plaza in front of the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York which was entrusted to him in 1958 and which could be the culmination of his artistic approach whole life. He will install his monumental sculptures according to the design of his Places I and II of 1948 simulating by scattered characters the buzzing activity of the city.
His figures will not be new : the walking man, the standing woman and the big head. Refusing obstinately the solution of a mechanical enlargement, he works to establish new proportions that will allow his statues not to be miniaturized by the 60 floors of the bank nor to seem huge to the passers-by.
Alberto does not yet know New York. After many trials in plaster and bronze, he is discouraged by his own belief of the gigantism of the city and renounces the project in 1960. He does not however scrap everything. Four Grande Femme Debout, two Homme qui marche and one Tête de Diego are preserved. The Homme qui marche I in life size 1.83 m high is hardly higher than the Homme au doigt from 1947 but it remains one of the best symbols of the vision of the humanity by Giacometti.
The walking man is the most emblematic conception by Giacometti. The symmetrical stride is a mark for energy, ambition and desire. The bronze provides an idea of solidity contradicted by the slender lines of the character. He comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. He is alone, as the "foreigner" of Camus.
It was edited in bronze the following year, 1961, by Susse in six numbered copies for trade and four artist's proofs. The serial number 2/6 was sold for £ 65M by Sotheby's in 2010
Alberto first visited New York City in October 1965. Suffering from cancer since 1963 he at last appreciated when it was too late how he could have integrated his ultimate work within Manhattan. He conceived an even taller sculpture and put Diego in charge of preparing the big frame but this project was stopped by his own death.
With her 2.75 m tall, the Grande Femme Debout II is the giant who dominates the whole group of the 1960 project for the New York piaza. The number 1/6 cast by Susse in 1961 was sold for $ 27.5M by Christie's on May 6, 2008, lot 36.
A Grande femme debout I was sold for $ 13M by Christie's in New York on November 8, 2000.
His figures will not be new : the walking man, the standing woman and the big head. Refusing obstinately the solution of a mechanical enlargement, he works to establish new proportions that will allow his statues not to be miniaturized by the 60 floors of the bank nor to seem huge to the passers-by.
Alberto does not yet know New York. After many trials in plaster and bronze, he is discouraged by his own belief of the gigantism of the city and renounces the project in 1960. He does not however scrap everything. Four Grande Femme Debout, two Homme qui marche and one Tête de Diego are preserved. The Homme qui marche I in life size 1.83 m high is hardly higher than the Homme au doigt from 1947 but it remains one of the best symbols of the vision of the humanity by Giacometti.
The walking man is the most emblematic conception by Giacometti. The symmetrical stride is a mark for energy, ambition and desire. The bronze provides an idea of solidity contradicted by the slender lines of the character. He comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. He is alone, as the "foreigner" of Camus.
It was edited in bronze the following year, 1961, by Susse in six numbered copies for trade and four artist's proofs. The serial number 2/6 was sold for £ 65M by Sotheby's in 2010
Alberto first visited New York City in October 1965. Suffering from cancer since 1963 he at last appreciated when it was too late how he could have integrated his ultimate work within Manhattan. He conceived an even taller sculpture and put Diego in charge of preparing the big frame but this project was stopped by his own death.
With her 2.75 m tall, the Grande Femme Debout II is the giant who dominates the whole group of the 1960 project for the New York piaza. The number 1/6 cast by Susse in 1961 was sold for $ 27.5M by Christie's on May 6, 2008, lot 36.
A Grande femme debout I was sold for $ 13M by Christie's in New York on November 8, 2000.
1980-1981 Grande Femme Debout (posthumous)
2017 SOLD for € 25M by Christie's
The Grande Femme Debout is the subject of a posthumous re-edition in 1980-1981 also by Susse in seven copies plus two artist's proofs for Annette Giacometti and plus one for the Fondation Maeght. One of the épreuves d'artiste was sold for € 25M by Christie's on October 19, 2017, lot 8.
