The French photographer Eli Lotar (1905−1969) was an old acquaintance of Giacometti’s who in his youth worked for Georges Bataille’s magazine ‘Documents’. Towards the end of 1963 he was a regular visitor to Giacometti’s studio. The three sculptural works dedicated to Lotar mark the end point of Giacometti’s life’s work (see GS 250 and GS 373).

Following Giacometti’s death, a number of works were left in his studio including the clay version of ‘Lotar III’, an important work that is considered to be his last. This fragile sculpture can be seen in the reconstruction of Giacometti’s studio at the Institut Giacometti in Paris, which opened in 2018. Giacometti’s brother Diego made a plaster cast of it immediately after the artist’s death in January 1966, from which bronzes were then cast.

Material

Bronze

Dimensions

65.5 x 28 x 35.5 cm

Creditline

Kunsthaus Zürich, Alberto Giacometti-Stiftung, Bequest of Bruno Giacometti

Object number

GS 415

Signature

inscr.: Alberto Giacometti 5/8

Further information

Ex. 5/8

Provenance

• ab 2016, Zürcher Kunstgesellschaft | Kunsthaus Zürich (Museum), Leihgabe
• Alberto Giacometti-Stiftung (Sammlung), Nachlass Bruno Giacometti
• Bruno Giacometti (*1907 Borgonovo bei Stampa, +2012 Zollikon) (Sammler/in)
• Alberto Giacometti (*1901 Borgonovo bei Stampa, +1966 Chur) (Künstler/in)