Alberto GIACOMETTI (1901-1966), bronze "Figure" floor lamp, narrow base, grooved version, circa 1933 - 1934. Monogrammed "AG", numbered "02". H. 153.5 cm "I realised that I was designing a vase exactly as I would have designed a sculpture, and that there was no difference between what I called a sculpture and what was an object." Alberto Giacometti Extract from an interview the artist gave to journalist André Parinaud in 1962. Provenance: Collection H.-L. Mermod, then Madame Françoise Mermod, then Catherine Clerc-de Goumoëns, Lausanne Reference: A certificate of authenticity from the Giacometti Committee will be given to the buyer. Reference number 4677 (AGD) in the Foundation's archives. Correspondence attests that A. Giacometti was in contact with H.L.-Mermod from October 1933 to March 1934, when the artist asked him if he was "satisfied with the lamp posts that have been delivered". Bibliography: Christian Boutonnet and Rafael Ortiz, "Diego Giacometti", Editions de l'amateur, Paris, for a similar model reproduced on p.34. Léopold Diégo Sanchez, "Jean-Michel Frank & Adolphe Chanaux", Editions du Regard, Paris, 1980, for an approximate model pp. 107 and 204 Michel Butor, Diego Giacometti, Maeght Editeur, Paris, 1985, similar model reproduced on p. 125; Please note: To date, we know of only two examples of the "figure" floor lamp with narrow base, grooved version. Alberto Giacometti designed our "Figure" floor lamp around 1933, as the correspondence in the archives attests. It appeared in the interiors he designed for Elsa Schiaparelli, the Rockefeller family and Guerlain, among other prestigious commissions. Our work was commissioned by Henri Louis Mermod. This famous art publisher was close to the artistic milieu of the time, and the biggest names in the art world stayed at the family home, "La Fantaisie", which had become a centre of reflection. Charles Ferdinand Ramuz was his closest friend, but we can also mention Hans Hartung, Emile Gilioli, Marie Laurencin, Raoul Dufy, Man Ray, Pablo Picasso, who nicknamed the publisher "le pinsonnet" for his quick wit, and of course Alberto Giacometti.