Alberto Giacometti

Artist Herbert Matter (American, born Switzerland. Born April 25, 1907, Engelberg, Swit, 1907 - 1984)

DateNegative 1966; print 1978

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsSupport: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Mat: 19 3/4 × 23 3/4 in. (50.2 × 60.3 cm)

ClassificationsPhotograph

Credit LineGift in Honor of Norman S. Ives, Professor, Artist, Publisher and Friend of Herbert Matter, 2021

Object number2022.9.1

DescriptionHead and shoulders view of a man with eyes closed and head resting on raised left hand, leaning toward right of composition. He is wearing a houndstooth jacket, long-sleeved button shirt, and a polka-dotted scarf or cravat. Shoulder at left of image is vignetted.
eMuseum Notes

Emuseum Notes

Matter’s portrait of fellow Swiss-born artist Alberto Giacometti was likely made during the last year of his friend’s life. Giacometti is perhaps best known for his distinctive sculptures of the human form, often very abstract and elongated. Matter began photographing the sculptures in 1960 and it was to become a more than twenty-year undertaking that resulted in a portfolio of thirteen photos (of which this portrait is one) and a posthumously published book. The portfolio features images of Giacometti’s late sculptural work and matter created it in concert with Norman Ives and Sewell Sillman, his friends and colleagues at Yale University who were also fine-art publishers.

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Not on view

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