3053 - AUGUSTO GIACOMETTI

AUGUSTO GIACOMETTI (Stampa 1877–1947 Zurich) Garten in San Domenico. 1913. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated lower left: AUGUSTO GIACOMETTI 1913. 58.5 × 65.5 cm. Provenance: - Richard Kisling Collection, Zurich, until 1917. - Basilius Presse, Basel. - Private collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above. - By descent to the present owner. Exhibited: - Probably Basel 1913, September-Ausstellung 1913, Kunsthalle Basel, 7–30 September 1913, no. 146, as 'Garten in San Domenico'. - Probably Zurich 1913, W. Fries. A. Giacometti et al., Neue Galerie Neupert, October 1913, no. 29, as 'Garten in San Domenico'. - Probably Chur 1913, Gemälde-Ausstellung Augusto Giacometti, Rätischer Volkssaal, 16–28 November 1913, no. 7, as 'Garten in San Domenico'. - Probably St. Moritz 1913/14, Gemälde-Ausstellung einheimischer Künstler in St. Moritz, 22 December 1913 – 18 January 1914, no. 8, as 'Garten in San Domenico'. - Zurich 1921, Sonderausstellung Augusto Giacometti, Kunstsalon Wolfsberg, February–March 1921, no. 23, as 'Garten in San Domenico'. - Bern 1959, Augusto Giacometti, Kunsthalle Bern, 8 May – 14 June 1959, no. 18, as 'Garten in San Domenico'. - Chur 1959, Augusto Giacometti, Bündner Kunsthaus Chur, 28 June – 13 September 1959, no. 17, as 'Garten in San Domenico'. - Basel 1959/60, Augusto Giacometti (1877–1947). Ein Vorläufer des Tachismus, Galerie Beyeler, December 1959 – January 1960, no. 5, as 'Garten in San Domenico' (verso with label). - Chur 1981, Augusto Giacometti. Pionier der abstrakten Malerei. Ein Leben für die Farbe, Bündner Kunsthaus Chur, 21 June – 13 September 1981, as 'Garten in San Domenico' (verso with label). - Lucerne 1987, Augusto Giacometti 1877–1947. Gemälde, Aquarelle, Pastelle, Entwürfe, Kunstmuseum Luzern, 10 July – 20 September 1987, no. 108, as 'Garten in San Domenico'. - Riehen 2009, Giacometti, Fondation Beyeler, 31 May – 11 October 2009, no. 151, as 'Garten in San Domenico'. - Bern 2014/15, Augusto Giacometti. Die Farbe und ich, Kunstmuseum Bern, 19 September 2014 – 15 February 2015, no. 66, as 'Garten in San Domenico' (verso with label). Literature: - Augusto Giacometti: Handschriftliches Werkverzeichnis, p. 37, as ‘Garten in San Domenico, 1913’. - Erwin Poeschel: Augusto Giacometti, Zurich 1922, pl. 7. - Erwin Poeschel and Augusto Giacometti: Augusto Giacometti, Zurich 1928, p. 71. - Hans Hartmann: Augusto Giacometti. Pionier der abstrakten Malerei. Ein Leben für die Farbe, Chur 1981, p. 220, no. 781 (ill. on p. 113). - Ottorino Villatora: Augusto Giacometti (1877–1947). Un'analisi, Lugano 1995, p. 27. - Ottorino Villatora: Augusto Giacometti. L'uomo e il colore. 1877–1947, Bellinzona 1997, p. 46, as ‘San Domenico’. - Patrizia Paola Belfanti: Augusto Giacometti (1877–1947), Milan 1997, p. 72, as ‘Giardini di San Domenico’ (ill. on p. 60). - Patrizia Paola Belfanti: "Il soggiorno fiorentino (1902–1915) di Augusto Giacometti", in: Quaderni grigionitaliani, no. 69, Chur 2000, p. 6. - Beat Stutzer: "Eines der seltsamsten Phänomene: Zu Leben and Werk von Augusto Giacometti", in: Exhibition cat. Augusto Giacometti: Wege zur Abstraktion, Chur 2003, p. 140, as ‘Garten in San Domenico’ (ill.). - Beat Stutzer: "Geschärfter Blick auf Augusto Giacometti", in: Exhibition cat. Explosions lyriques: die abstrakte Malerei in der Schweiz 1950–1965, Sitten 2009, p. 122. - Ottorino Villatora: "Augusto Giacometti – Der Mensch and die Farbe", in: Roland Frischknecht and Marco Giacometti: Die Giacomettis. eine Künstlerdynastie, Bern 2014, p. 197. - Exhibition cat. Augusto Giacometti. Die Farbe and ich, Bern 2014/15, p. 218, no. 66 (ill. on p. 154). - Michael Egli, Denise Frey and Beat Stutzer: Augusto Giacometti. Catalogue raisonné, ed. Swiss Institute for Art Research, Zurich 2023, vol. II, p. 325, no. 95 (ill.). 'Garten in San Domenico' belongs to a series of garden paintings that Augusto Giacometti created in Florence in 1913. It dates from the important phase of his 'Chromatic Fantasies', characterised by mosaic-like arrangements of individual areas of colour. By greatly simplifying his formal vocabulary and placing luminous patches of colour directly alongside one another, Giacometti made colour itself the central concern of his painting. The present work is likewise distinguished by the brilliance of its individual, thickly applied dabs of paint. Despite their seemingly free arrangement, they form a carefully considered composition. Light yellows and greens dominate the foreground, suggesting flowers and shrubs, while the colours become progressively darker towards the background, culminating in the deep green of the treetops. Through this gradation of light and dark, Giacometti gives the picture surface a rhythmic structure while creating a subtle sense of spatial depth. The deliberately close framing, characteristic of his work between 1910 and 1917, further intensifies the immediate impact of the colours. With this grou