July 2020 Auction Ends Thursday, July 30th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/30/2020
Alberto Giacometti autograph letter signed, composed on 25 October 1944 from Stampa, Switzerland, with content expressing frustration with his work at a time when he was refining his sculptural style to reflect his style of thin, elongated figures. He writes in black fountain pen to his childhood friend Alice Hirschfeld, translated from French in full, ''My dear Alice / Thank you very much for your very kind letter and for everything you say in it. We are still here until the beginning of November, but this year I am impatient to leave, to be in a city and to be better informed of what is going on. / Under different external conditions I would find it very beautiful here, and also if my work were in a different state.
Here is an approximate translation of the song: / Rosetta my dear, I am full of sadness, must I live without you? That I cannot, I know it. / Beautiful Rosetta, my heart is troubled. I am like a ([crossed out]? (fly I don't understand this word) in a barn and cannot get out, so my heart is going to burst. You have not freed me, I am undone by pain, good night, I am leaving, of death I am not afraid.
I am not certain of that word 'musch' [fly]. Other than this, I know very little or, rather, nothing at all of the songs of Grisons or even those of the valley. / I don't know what else to say this morning, and I will send you these few words. Once I am in Geneva I will let you know and, I hope, see you soon. / As I've read, Sillone has returned to Italy, his exile finally over. / I am not familiar with the sculptor giving Madeline lessons. / I will be better, I hope, once I have left. / Very affectionately, / your Alberto''. Two page letter on a single sheet measures 5.75'' x 75''. Folds, else near fine condition. A very rare letter by the artist.
Alberto Giacometti Autograph Letter Signed -- ''...Under different external conditions I would find it very beautiful here, and also if my work were in a different state...''
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