ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966) - photo 1
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966) - photo 2
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966) - photo 3
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966) - photo 4

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966)

Lot 8
06.06.2022 14:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 302 400
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 773593
Lot 8 | ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966)
Estimate value
$ 200 000 – 300 000
ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966)

'Bilboquet' Table Lamp, circa 1937

terracotta, fabric shade

13 in. (33 cm) high, 5 7⁄8 in. (15 cm) diameter (excluding shade)







Provenance

Sonia Delaunay, by repute

Lars Vain Hole, Paris

Artcurial, Paris, 23 May 2017, lot 86

Acquired from the above by the present owner



Literature

L. D. Sanchez, Jean-Michel Frank. Adolphe Chanaux, Paris, 1980, p. 200

L. D. Sanchez, Jean-Michel Frank, Paris, 1997, p. 244

Jean-Michel Frank, Un décorateur dans le Paris des années 30, exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, 2009, p. 119

L. Verchère et. al., Jean-Michel Frank, Paris, 2018, p. 201



Special notice


On occasion, Christie's has a direct financial interest in the outcome of the sale of certain lots consigned for sale. This will usually be where it has guaranteed to the Seller that whatever the outcome of the auction, the Seller will receive a minimum sale price for the work. This is known as a minimum price guarantee. This is such a lot.



Post lot text

The present table lamp is one of the four known examples of the ‘Bilboquet’ model, created circa 1937.
 
Alberto Giacometti enjoyed drawing his creations from everyday objects, transforming them into abstract yet utilitarian sculptures. Bilboquet, which can be translated as ‘cup-and-ball’, is an outdated French game of skill. Reduced to a combination of two simple shapes, it is reinterpreted here into a modern artefact. The rawness of the shapes and the refined profile confer an anonymity to the forms. The use of terracotta is in that matter anything but anecdotic. The artist worked with this material very rarely, thus its use should be considered as a statement, as an ambition of returning to a primary material. Used since the Palaeolithic era, terracotta is commonly associated with Greek antiquity and its earthenware vessels, which constituted part of Giacometti’s repertoire of forms. Its use is also consistent with Jean-Michel Frank’s aesthetic and attention to contrasts between luxurious and common materials, between delicacy and coarseness. The texture and natural patina of terracotta enable the present lamp to come alive and conform to the space it occupies.
 
The presence of this rare model in Sonia Delaunay’s apartment, 16 rue Saint Simon in Paris, does not come as a surprise. A Ukrainian-born artist, she founded along with her husband, Robert Delaunay, Orphism, an avant-garde movement sometimes called Orphic Cubism. Both artists’ creations and research focused on pure abstraction through an unprecedented approach to colour. They developed theories such as simultaneous contrast and optical intensity, which they applied to their work by designing geometrical and often circular shapes with a precise and reflexive combination of colours. The resonance between their work and the present lamp is hardly deniable, and confirms the timelessness of the ‘Bilboquet’ model.
Artist:Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966)
Applied technique:Pottery
Medium:Ceramic, Terracotta
Art style:Art Deco
Place of origin:Western Europe, France, Europe, Switzerland
Auction house category:Furniture and Lamps, Lamps and luminaires
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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