3053 - AUGUSTO GIACOMETTI

AUGUSTO GIACOMETTI (Stampa 1877–1947 Zurich) Garden 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. - Passed down to the current owner. Exhibited: - Probably Basel 1913, September Exhibition 1913, Kunsthalle Basel, September 7–30, 1913, no. 146, as “Garden in San Domenico.” - Probably Zurich 1913, W. Fries, A. Giacometti et al., Neue Galerie Neupert, October 1913, no. 29, as “Garden in San Domenico.” - Probably Chur, 1913, Augusto Giacometti Painting Exhibition, Rätischer Volkssaal, November 16–28, 1913, no. 7, as “Garden in San Domenico.” - Probably St. Moritz, 1913–14, Exhibition of Paintings by Local Artists in St. Moritz, December 22, 1913–January 18, 1914, no. 8, as “Garden in San Domenico.” - Zurich 1921, Special Exhibition: Augusto Giacometti, Kunstsalon Wolfsberg, February–March 1921, no. 23, as “Garden in San Domenico.” - Bern 1959, Augusto Giacometti, Kunsthalle Bern, May 8 – June 14, 1959, no. 18, as “Garden in San Domenico.” - Chur 1959, Augusto Giacometti, Bündner Kunsthaus Chur, June 28–September 13, 1959, no. 17, as “Garden in San Domenico.” - Basel 1959/60, Augusto Giacometti (1877–1947). A Forerunner of Tachism, Galerie Beyeler, December 1959 – January 1960, no. 5, as “Garden in San Domenico” (verso with label). - Chur 1981, Augusto Giacometti. Pioneer of Abstract Painting. A Life Devoted to Color, Bündner Kunsthaus Chur, June 21 – September 13, 1981, as “Garden in San Domenico” (on the reverse with label). - Lucerne 1987, Augusto Giacometti 1877–1947. Paintings, Watercolors, Pastels, Sketches, Kunstmuseum Luzern, July 10–September 20, 1987, no. 108, as “Garden in San Domenico.” - Riehen 2009, Giacometti, Fondation Beyeler, May 31–October 11, 2009, no. 151, as “Garden in San Domenico.” - Bern 2014/15, Augusto Giacometti: Color and I, Kunstmuseum Bern, September 19, 2014 – February 15, 2015, no. 66, as “Garden in San Domenico” (on the reverse with label). Bibliography: - Augusto Giacometti: Handwritten Catalog Raisonné, p. 37, as “Garden 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. Pioneer of Abstract Painting. A Life Devoted to Color, Chur 1981, p. 220, no. 781 (ill. on p. 113). - Ottorino Villatora: Augusto Giacometti (1877–1947). An Analysis, Lugano 1995, p. 27. - Ottorino Villatora: Augusto Giacometti. The Man and Color. 1877–1947, Bellinzona 1997, p. 46, listed 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: “Augusto Giacometti’s Stay in Florence (1902–1915),” in: Quaderni grigionitaliani, no. 69, Chur 2000, p. 6. - Beat Stutzer: “One of the Strangest Phenomena: On the Life and Work of Augusto Giacometti,” in: Exhibition cat. Augusto Giacometti: Paths to Abstraction, Chur 2003, p. 140, as “Garden in San Domenico” (ill.). - Beat Stutzer: “A Keener Look at Augusto Giacometti,” in: Exhibition cat. Explosions lyriques: Abstract Painting in Switzerland 1950–1965, Sion 2009, p. 122. - Ottorino Villatora: “Augusto Giacometti—Man and Color,” in: Roland Frischknecht and Marco Giacometti: The Giacomettis: An Artistic Dynasty, Bern 2014, p. 197. - Exhibition catalog: Augusto Giacometti. Color and I, 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.). 'Garden in San Domenico' belongs to a series of garden paintings that Augusto Giacometti created in Florence in 1913. It dates from the significant phase of his “Chromatic Fantasies,” characterized by mosaic-like arrangements of individual areas of color. By greatly simplifying his formal vocabulary and placing luminous patches of color directly next to one another, Giacometti made color itself the central focus of his painting. This 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 colors become progressively darker toward 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 colors. With this grou