The Invisible Object (Hands Holding the Void)

model 1934, cast 1935

Alberto Giacometti

Sculptor, Swiss, 1901 - 1966

An abstracted, thin, nude woman with a round face half sits, half leans back against a tall, narrow support in this free-standing bronze sculpture. Her body faces us in this photograph. Her wide, oval face has two stylized, star-like eyes and a triangular opening for a mouth. The torso is tall and thin, and her limbs elongated. With thin arms, she holds up open hands with palms facing each other at the level of her round breasts. Her fingers are long and delicate. She is encased within a tall, rectangular frame. With knees slightly bent and resting against a panel that runs in front of her shins, she leans against a slat against her backside, perhaps the seat to a stylized chair. Her feet are pressed together on a double-tiered, low, square base with four bulbous feet at the corners.
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On View

East Building Upper Level, Gallery 415-B

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bronze

  • Credit Line

    Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 153 x 32.6 x 29.8 cm (60 1/4 x 12 13/16 x 11 3/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1973.27.1

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Acquired c. 1948 from the artist by Jacques Ulmann, Paris; acquired 1968 by (Galerie Beyeler, Basel);[1] sold 1973 to NGA.
[1] A letter from the Galerie Beyeler dated 23 February 1974 states that Ulmann bought the sculpture directly from Giacometti. Another version of the provenance, given in a letter written by Douglas Lewis dated 16 April 1974, lists Ray Millet Pans as being a possible owner prior to Ulmann. However, office notes in NGA curatorial files list Pans as being the owner of an identical work by Giacometti, now located in St. Louis, so the reference to Pans owning the NGA version probably confused it with the one located in St. Louis. Both letter are in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1955

  • Albert Giacometti: Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings, Arts Council Gallery, London, 1955.

1966

  • Giacometti, Kunsthalle Basel, 1966, no. 31.

1969

  • Alberto Giacometti, Orangerie de Tuileries, Paris, 1969-1970, no. 32, repro.

1970

  • Riksutställningar/Nr 125: Surrealism? surrealism x surrealism x surrealism = surrealism3, Moderna Museet Stockholm; Göteborgs Konsthalle; Sundsvalls Museum; Malmö Museum, 1970, no. 35, repro.

1971

  • Metamorphose des Dinges, Palais des Beaux-Art, Brussels; Mus. Boymans-Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Palazzo Reale, Milan; Kunsthall Basel, Musée des art décoratifs, Paris, 1971-1972, no. 47, repro.

1974

  • Alberto Giacometti: A Retrospective Exhibition, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1974, no. 33, repro.

  • Recent Acquisitions and Promised Gifts: Sculpture, Drawings, Prints, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1974, no. XIV, repro.

1977

  • Best of Fifty, The Taft Museum, Cincinnati, 1977, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1978

  • Aspects of Twentieth-Century Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1978-1979, no. 61, repro.

1987

  • Alberto Giacometti, Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1987-1988, no. 58, repro.

2001

  • Surrealism: Desire Unbound, Tate Modern, London; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2001-2002, unnumbered catalogue, fig. 54 (shown only in London).

2015

  • Marvelous Objects: Surrealist Sculpture from Paris to New York, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, 2015-2016, fig. 47.

Bibliography

1929

  • Einstein, Carl. "Aphorismes Méthodiques." In Documents I, no. 1 (1 April 1929): 32-34.

1971

  • Russel, John. "Der surrealistische Gegenstand." In Metamorphose des Dinges: Kunst und Antikunst 1910-1970. Exh. cat. 6 venues, 1971-1972. Brussels, 1971: 90-103.

1978

  • Alberto Giacometti: A Retrospective Exhibition. Exh. cat. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1978: 22, 26, 71.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 649, no. 1029, repro.

1990

  • Barañano, Kosme María de. Alberto Giacometti. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, 1990: 83-84, 400-401.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 100, repro.

Inscriptions

Inscribed, top rear of bottom base: Alberto Giacometti / 1935; on rear face of bottom base: 3/6 / Alexis.Rudier / Fondeur.Paris

Markings

FM: Alexis Rudier

Wikidata ID

Q63854298

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