The Art Newspaper

Paris Giacometti foundation launches website

Online database of authenticated works now numbers more than 1,000 pieces

By Gareth Harris. Web only
Published online: 28 November 2012

Alberto Giacometti modelling a bust of Yanaihara in his studio in Paris, 1960. Photo: Annette Giacometti © Giacometti Estate

The Paris-based Alberto and Annette Giacometti Foundation has launched a website, which provides research and information on the provenance of works—a significant move for a market susceptible to forgeries.

“This new website is a reference point for Giacometti,” says a foundation spokeswoman. “It finally makes publicly available research conducted by the foundation team in the past nine years [in areas including] provenance, exhibition history and bibliography.”

An online database of authenticated works, which previously included 90 items, now numbers more than 1,000 pieces. There are also details of the foundation’s own collection comprising 5,000 works by Giacometti, including 87 paintings and 112 bronzes.

The Giacometti-Stiftung Foundation in Zurich and the Berthoud family have 3/8 of the rights to Giacometti’s work, though the Alberto and Annette Giacometti Foundation has the majority stake (5/8) in the estate’s moral and patrimonial rights (including the right to publish and reproduce).