THE COLLECTION
Gazing Head
Alberto Giacometti (Swiss, 1901-1966)
1928-29. Plaster, 15 3/4 x 14 3/16 x 2 3/8" (40 x 36 x 6 cm). Fractional and promised gift of Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis. © 2010 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
236.2005
Close to wholly abstract, this membrane–thin sculpture projects an uncanny sense of human presence. On a flat, gently undulating plaster surface, a pair of soft elliptical indentations—one vertical, the other horizontal—gaze out. When exhibited in Paris in 1929, Gazing Head attracted the attention of key Surrealist artists and writers, launching Giacometti into the center of the Parisian avant-garde.


