121 - Alberto Giacometti (Swiss, 1901–1966)

Alberto Giacometti (Swiss, 1901–1966) Ex-libris Edmond Bomsel III. 1961. Etching. 75 x 104 [90 x 117 mm]. Kornfeld 346. Set of 10 perfect prints on thin laid Japanese paper. Normal small margins. Original engraving created in 1961 by Alberto Giacometti for the library of Edmond Bomsel (1889–1967), a lawyer from Versailles and a major collector of Surrealist art, co-director and administrator of Éditions du Sagittaire—where Philippe Soupault served as literary director—and, in the 1930s, a financial backer of the short-lived Galerie Gradiva, directed by André Breton. Bomsel was also one of the founders of the Compagnie de l’Art brut, established by Dubuffet and the Council of Artists —he was one of the discreet advisors tasked with managing day-to-day affairs and safeguarding Breton’s documents and financial interests in France during his exile in the United States throughout World War II. Arsène Bonafous-Murat served as his secretary and was in charge of his library in the 1960s. The auction of Edmond Bomsel’s prestigious collection took place in 1971 at the Hôtel Drouot in Paris. This sale was a landmark event for the art market, as it revealed to the public the private collection of a man who had been collecting the finest works of the avant-garde for nearly fifty years.