L'Homme qui marche I
{{Short description|Sculpture by Alberto Giacometti}}
{{for|the sculpture of the same name by Auguste Rodin|The Walking Man}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Infobox artwork
| image_file =
| painting_alignment =
| image_size =
| title = L'Homme qui marche I
| alt =
| other_language_1 = English
| other_title_1 = The Walking Man I or The Striding Man I
| other_language_2 =
| other_title_2 =
| artist = Alberto Giacometti
| year = {{Start date|1960}}
| type = Bronze
| height_metric = 183
| width_metric =
| height_imperial = 72
| width_imperial =
| metric_unit = cm
| imperial_unit = in
| city =
| museum = Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh
Private collection of Lily Safra
Fondation Maeght, Saint-Paul
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran, Kröller-Müller Museum, the Netherlands
}}
L’Homme qui marche I ({{IPA|fr|lɔm ki maʁʃ œ̃|}} The Walking Man I or The Striding Man I, {{literal|The Man who Walks I}}) is the name of any one of the cast bronze sculptures that comprise six numbered editions plus four artist proofs created by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti in 1961.{{cite news | url=https://www.post-gazette.com/local/city/2010/02/05/Carnegie-owns-version-of-Giacometti-sculpture-sold-for-104-3-million/stories/201002050230 | title=Carnegie owns version of Giacometti sculpture sold for $104.3 million | first=Mary | last=Thomas | newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | location=Pittsburgh, PA | date=5 February 2010 | accessdate=5 February 2010 }}{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/06/arts/06iht-Melik6.html | title=A Touch of Fame Works Its Magic in Market | work=The New York Times | date=6 February 2010| last1=Melikian | first1=Souren }} On 3 February 2010, the second edition of the cast of the sculpture became one of the most expensive works of art ever sold at auction, for $104.3 million. Its price meant it was considered the most expensive sculpture,{{cite news|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/03/giacometti-sculpture-lhom_n_448243.html|title=Giacometti Sculpture 'L'Homme qui marche I' Fetches $104.3 Million|work=The Huffington Post|accessdate=3 February 2010|first=Lila|last=Shapiro|date=3 February 2010}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/feb/03/giacometti-statue-breaks-auction-record|title=Alberto Giacometti statue breaks auction record with £65m sale|work=Mark Brown/Guardian|accessdate=5 February 2010 | location=London | date=3 February 2010}} until May 2015, when another Giacometti work, L'Homme au doigt, surpassed it.{{cite news|title=Two Artworks Top $100 Million Each at Christie's Sale (Artsbeat blog)|url=http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/05/11/two-art-works-top-100-million-each-at-christies-sale/|first1=Scott | last1=Reyburn |accessdate=12 May 2015|work=New York Times|date=11 May 2015}}
The sculpture
File:CHF100 8 back.jpg banknote]]
The bronze sculpture depicts a lone man in mid-stride with his arms hanging at his side.{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704259304575043482913970608|title=Sotheby's Sells Giacometti for Record $104.3 Million|work=The Wall Street Journal|accessdate=4 February 2010 | first=Kelly | last=Crow | date=3 February 2010}} The piece is described as "both a humble image of an ordinary man, and a potent symbol of humanity".{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB126411679319132847?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines|title=Set to Fetch a Grand Price|work=The Wall Street Journal|accessdate=4 February 2010 | first=Margaret | last=Studer | date=22 January 2010}} Giacometti is said to have viewed "the natural equilibrium of the stride" as a symbol of "man's own life force".{{citation | title = Design of the current banknote series: 100 franc banknote | url = http://www.snb.ch/en/iabout/cash/current/design/id/cash_current_design_100 | publisher = Swiss National Bank | accessdate = 4 February 2010 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100619160103/http://www.snb.ch/en/iabout/cash/current/design/id/cash_current_design_100 | archive-date = 19 June 2010 | url-status = dead }}.
In 1960, Giacometti was asked to be part of a public project by the Chase Manhattan Plaza in New York to plant bronze figures outside the building. He created several sculptures, with L'Homme qui marche I among them. Giacometti struggled with the project and eventually abandoned the commission. However, in 1961 he cast the life-size work in bronze and exhibited it at the Venice Biennale a year later. L'Homme qui marche I was created at the high point of Giacometti's mature period and represents the pinnacle of his experimentation with the human form.{{cite web|url=https://theartwolf.com/news/giacometti-homme-sothebys/|title=Sotheby's will offer Giacometti's L'Homme Qui Marche I|work=The Art Wolf|date=3 February 2010|accessdate=4 February 2010}} The piece is considered to be one of the most important works by the artist{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8497287.stm|title=Giacometti sculpture fetches £65m at Sotheby's auction |work=BBC|accessdate=3 February 2010|date=5 February 2010}} and one of the most iconic images of Modern art.{{cite web|url=http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=159576376|title=L'Homme Qui Marche I|work=Sotheby's|accessdate=3 February 2010|archive-date=11 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511082432/http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=159576376|url-status=dead}}
Edition number one of the sculpture is located at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Edition number two belongs in a private collection. Other casts of L'Homme qui marche I include those at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul, Alpes-Maritimes, the Kröller-Müller Museum in the Netherlands, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, NY, The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art In Iran and Louisiana Museum of Modern Art near Copenhagen, Denmark.{{cite web | url=http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=159576376 | title=Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale: Lot 8 Alberto Giacometti | publisher=Sotheby's | accessdate=5 February 2010 | archive-date=11 May 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200511082432/http://www.sothebys.com/app/live/lot/LotDetail.jsp?lot_id=159576376 | url-status=dead }}
Auction
File:L'Homme Qui Marche II.jpg
On 3 February 2010, edition number two of the sculpture came up for auction at Sotheby's auction house in London. The piece was sold by German banking group Commerzbank, which had acquired it when it took over the Dresdner Bank in 2009.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60744C20100108?type=artsNews|title=Life-size Giacometti bronze goes under the hammer|work=Reuters|accessdate=3 February 2010 | date=8 January 2010}} The sale of the sculpture marked the first time in 20 years that a life-size Giacometti figure of a walking man came to auction.
It had been estimated to sell for between £12 and £18 million, but in just eight minutes the sculpture was bought by Lily Safra, widow of the prominent Lebanese banker Edmond Safra for £58 million.{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601088&sid=aN5LJjCDaDfQ|title=Lily Safra Paid $103.4 Million for Giacometti, Dealers Say |work=Bloomberg|accessdate=4 May 2010|date=26 February 2010}} Including the buyer's premium the price reached £65 million (US$103.7 million).{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8497287.stm|title=Giacometti sculpture fetches £65m at Sotheby's auction |work=BBC|accessdate=3 February 2010|date=5 February 2010}}
The piece broke the record for a Giacometti work at auction, which was set at $27.5 million by Grande Femme Debout II in 2008,{{cite web|url=http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jJ-nuOHmXSBq7_MFQrllsC6jrt4A |title=Monet fetches record price at New York auction |work=AFP |accessdate=3 February 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080512060740/http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jJ-nuOHmXSBq7_MFQrllsC6jrt4A |archivedate=12 May 2008 }} and that for the most expensive sculpture sold at a public auction, which was held by the 5000-year-old Guennol Lioness, sold at Sotheby's in 2007 for $57.2 m. When expressed in British pounds and when inflation is ignored, the bronze also broke the record price for an art work sold at auction which, since 2004, was held at $104.2 million (then £58.2 m) by Pablo Picasso's Garçon à la pipe.{{cite web|url=http://www.today.com/id/35223008|title=Giacometti sculpture fetches record $104M|work=Today.com|accessdate=3 February 2010}} The most expensive work of art sold at a public auction remained Van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet, which was bought in May 1990 for $82.5 million (approx. $138.4 million in CPI-adjusted 2010 US dollars),[http://www.bls.gov/data/inflation_calculator.htm CPI Inflation Calculator, US Bureau of Labor Statistics]. while Jackson Pollock's No. 5, 1948, which was privately sold for $140 million in 2006 (approx. $151 million in 2010 dollars), remained the most expensive work of art sold overall.
See also
References
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{{Alberto Giacometti}}
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Category:Sculptures by Alberto Giacometti