3222 - Augusto Giacometti

Augusto Giacometti 1877 Stampa – 1947 Zurich Coffee Party. 1925 Pastel on paper Monogrammed lower right: a.g. Framed 24.5 × 33.2 cm (sheet size) Galerie Neupert, Zurich (label on the reverse dated 1920); private collection, Switzerland Hans Hartmann, Augusto Giacometti. Pioneer of Abstract Painting. A Life Devoted to Color, Chur 1981, p. 234, no. 1267 Augusto Giacometti. Pioneer of Abstract Painting, Graubünden Art Museum, Chur, June 20–September 13, 1981 (label on the reverse) The painting offered here is registered with the Swiss Institute for Art Research as an authentic work by Augusto Giacometti (inventory no. 164,484). Augusto Giacometti, the creator of the famous “Blüemlihalle” in what is now the police station at Zurich’s Amtshaus I, is considered one of Switzerland’s most significant colorists and pioneers of abstract painting. His pastel “Kaffeekränzchen,” created around 1920, reveals a lesser-known, intimate side of his work. Three elegantly dressed ladies are gathered around a table set with a white tablecloth. Two are wearing fashionable black berets, and hanging over the delicately crafted chair is a large, orange scarf that echoes the feathers on their hats. Rendered with a delicate, almost graphic line and flat geometric forms, the figures—facing one another—are depicted from the front, side, and back. This subtle depiction illustrates Giacometti’s interest in dissolving fixed contours and in a visual language in which line and color increasingly become independent means of expression. Auction date: November 28, 2026 Approximate auction time: 3:46 p.m. CET