For their friends the Giacometti brothers also remain the pre-war decorators who created models of furnishing for Frank. Diego continues in this specialty and Alberto still accepts some private orders. A plaster chandelier with geometric figures made by Alberto in 1954 for the Tériade apartment was sold for £ 2.05M including premium by Phillips on April 26, 2017.
Louis Broder was a Swiss publisher. For his Paris apartment he commissioned in 1948 to Alberto a chandelier adorned with his new characters. The original plaster, 60 cm high and 136 cm in diameter, was supplied in 1949 or 1950 to Broder and donated in 1983 by Berggruen to the Centre Pompidou.
This private work is an interesting synthesis of Giacometti's metaphysics. The central position is a gloriette in which the Femme debout opens her arms, holding two side columns as if she was ready to go out for discovering the world. She has the main role, superseding the ephemeral Homme au doigt.
The Homme qui marche starts away from the cage in a centrifugal force that ignores the existence of the woman. Smaller than her, he does not have the importance he would like to have. The trinity is completed on the other side by a bird. The four lights are installed in crocus flowers.
In 1952 Alberto made three bronzes of this chandelier, also for Broder. One of them is estimated £ 6M for sale by Sotheby's in London on February 28, lot 4.
SOLD for £ 7.6M including premium
Giacometti Chandelier Coming to Sothebys in London https://t.co/umLjsznEBY pic.twitter.com/CMACGZ5Y4x
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) January 26, 2018