Augusto Giacometti
An ascent of Piz Duan, 1912

Oil on canvas, 84.5 x 84 cm

Alberto Giacometti’s distant uncle Augusto Giacometti was among the most outstanding Swiss artists of the early twentieth century. In hindsight, his abstract color compositions appear especially important. The present example is typical in being well-nigh devoid of perspective depth. With “close-ups” of this kind, Augusto in a certain sense anticipated the approach of the American artist Mark Tobey, who in the 1950s began to construct an abstract universe based on the texture of certain details and dense patterns of meditative brushstrokes.

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