Shown at the Salon des Tuileries in 1925, ‘Torse’ represented Giacometti’s first public appearance. Taking on an exercise that had been seen as a touchstone since Rodin, he placed himself within a long tradition and resolved the fundamental problem of combining natural form with artistic form in a remarkably original way. Although the three elements have the compelling power of geometric bodies, their tense shapes and the upwardly thrusting contrapposto form exude an organic vitality based on years of studying the nude and faceted drawings of it in the Cubist style.

This is the second version of the ‘Torse’; according to a note from the artist Serge Brignoni, the version exhibited in 1925 was even more naturalistic. A bronze cast of the sculpture is held by the Alberto Giacometti Foundation (see GS 002).

Material

Plaster

Dimensions

58 x 25 x 24 cm

Creditline

Kunsthaus Zürich, Alberto Giacometti-Stiftung, 1965

Object number

GS 001

Signature

inscr. on plinth right with brush: Alberto Giacometti

Provenance

• Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft | Kunsthaus Zürich (Museum), frühestens ab 1966, Leihgabe
• Alberto Giacometti-Stiftung (Sammlung), Zürich, ab 1965, Übernahme
• Alberto Giacometti-Syndikat, 1963, Kauf
• Galerie Beyeler, Basel, 1963, Kauf
• Sammlung G. David Thompson, Pittsburgh, 1954, Kauf
• Kunsthandel, Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York
• Alberto Giacometti