Beschreibung:

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966) Igor Stravinsky signed and dated 'Alberto Giacometti, Paris 12 Octobre 1957' (lower right) pencil on paper 18 5/8 x 12 3/4 in (47.3 x 32.4 cm) Executed on October 12, 1957 Fußnoten The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Comité Giacometti and it is recorded in the Alberto Giacometti database as AGD 4142. Provenance Robert Craft, New York. Sextant, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. Robert D. Graff, New Jersey. Exhibited New York, The Museum of Modern Art, Stravinsky and the Dance, 1962-63, no. 62.759 (illustrated p. 8 and on the cover). New York, The New York Public Library, Stravinsky and the Theatre, New York, 1963, p. 51. New York, The Museum of Modern Art; Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago; Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art & San Francisco, The San Francisco Museum of Art, Alberto Giacometti June 9, 1965 - April 24, 1966, no. 130 (illustrated p. 107). Trenton, New Jersey State Museum, Festival '72, Exhibition of Decorative and Fine Arts from New Jersey Private Collections, June 30 - August 6, 1972 (illustrated in the catalogue n.p.). Basel, Das Kunstmuseum, Strawinsky Sein Nachlass Sein Bild, June 6 – September 9, 1984, no. 93. Considered one of the most influential composers of the twentieth century, Igor Stravinsky was seventy-five years old when he first met the young Alberto Giacometti The composer was visiting Paris to record his music that was composed for the ballet Agon. Stravinsky was well familiar with the artist's work, who had been commissioned to create the sleeve for the ballet's record. It was October 12, 1957, the day after Agon had been performed in Paris, that the two artists were formally introduced by their mutual acquaintance, the Russian musicologist Pierre Souvtchinsky. Prior to this initial meeting, Giacometti had produced several portrait drawings of Stravinsky based from photographs. Dissatisfied with these results, Giacometti asked Stravinsky if he could sketch him from life instead. The composer agreed to sit for the artist while Giacometti rapidly sketched a series of portrait drawings. Portrait of Stravinsky, dated and inscribed 'Paris 12 Octobre 1957,' is one of the works that was executed during this sitting. Stravinsky visited Paris a few other times from 1957 to 1965. Although the composer was typically impatient, he always allowed Giacometti to sketch him from life during these visits. Giacometti's biographer James Lord described the relationship between the two artists, stating that "both men had good reason to respect one another, but they could not have foreseen how deep a pleasure would come from opportunities to show it. Indeed, it must be delightful for geniuses to feel a spontaneous affinity, because they alone can appreciate the extent of its solace in the isolation they share. ... The portraits are incisive, profound, penetrating images made by one great man of another, the outcome of a confrontation of peers" (J. Lord, 'Stravinsky and Giacometti' in Strawinsky. Sein Nachlass. Sein Bild, (exhibition catalogue), Basel, Kunstmuseum, 1984, p. 377). The drawings at present entered the collection of the distinguished American conductor Robert Craft. A very close artistic partner to Stravinsky, Craft is credited for renewing Stravinsky's artistic vigor. Craft's artistic influence is evident in the ballet Agon, as it was Craft who first introduced Stravinsky to the technique of serialism used in the neoclassical ballet and who conducted the music when it first premiered in Los Angeles.