Alberto Giacometti
Monumental Head1960

On view:

Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

Bronze sculpture of an elongated human head and neck on a rough rectangular base, with deeply textured, pitted surface and dark charcoal patina

Bronze bust with an elongated head atop a narrow neck and rough rectangular base, deeply textured surface with visible modeling marks, three-quarter view against a neutral gray background.

Artist or Maker: Alberto Giacometti
Title: Monumental Head
Place Made: Switzerland
Date Made: 1960
Medium: Bronze, cast number 5/6
Dimensions: 38 x 12 x 13 in. (96.52 x 30.48 x 33.02 cm)
Credit Line: Partial, fractional and promised gift of Janice and Henri Lazarof
Accession Number: M.2005.70.34
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Curatorial Notes: Monumental Head was conceived as part of a commission Giacometti received in 1956 to create a group of three figures for the plaza in front of Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City. The oversized head with elongated neck was meant to be installed directly on the outdoor plaza, so that viewers could engage with it more directly.

The artist was influenced by the colossal head of Emperor Constantine (c. AD 330), which he saw in Rome shortly before casting this work; Monumental Head shares a similar frontal composition and enormous eyes, emphasized with deep, gouged sockets and furrowed brows. Giacometti claimed that this representation of the eyes, at once abstract and accentuated, conveyed the gaze most effectively. Like other body fragment sculptures, such as The Leg (1958), Monumental Head reflects Giacometti’s sustained interest in partial figures.

Wall label, 2021.
Selected Bibliography: Barron, Stephanie. Envisioning Modernism: The Janice and Henri Lazarof Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2012.
Barron, Stephanie. Acknowledgments, or Every Label Tells a Story. Los Angeles: Art Catalogues: LACMA, 2017.
Copyright: © Alberto Giacometti Estate/VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY/ADAGP, Paris

Alberto Giacometti
Monumental Head1960

On view:

Broad Contemporary Art Museum, floor 3

Artist or Maker: Alberto Giacometti
Title: Monumental Head
Place Made: Switzerland
Date Made: 1960
Medium: Bronze, cast number 5/6
Dimensions: 38 x 12 x 13 in. (96.52 x 30.48 x 33.02 cm)
Credit Line: Partial, fractional and promised gift of Janice and Henri Lazarof
Accession Number: M.2005.70.34
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: Modern Art
Curatorial Notes: Monumental Head was conceived as part of a commission Giacometti received in 1956 to create a group of three figures for the plaza in front of Chase Manhattan Bank in New York City. The oversized head with elongated neck was meant to be installed directly on the outdoor plaza, so that viewers could engage with it more directly.

The artist was influenced by the colossal head of Emperor Constantine (c. AD 330), which he saw in Rome shortly before casting this work; Monumental Head shares a similar frontal composition and enormous eyes, emphasized with deep, gouged sockets and furrowed brows. Giacometti claimed that this representation of the eyes, at once abstract and accentuated, conveyed the gaze most effectively. Like other body fragment sculptures, such as The Leg (1958), Monumental Head reflects Giacometti’s sustained interest in partial figures.

Wall label, 2021.
Selected Bibliography: Barron, Stephanie. Envisioning Modernism: The Janice and Henri Lazarof Collection. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2012.
Barron, Stephanie. Acknowledgments, or Every Label Tells a Story. Los Angeles: Art Catalogues: LACMA, 2017.