Paris Without End
In the last years of his career, Giacometti was tied up finishing a commission from his friend Tériade, for a book of lithographs about Paris: Paris Without End. While the greater part of Giacometti’s œuvre was produced in his studio, this commission gave him an opportunity to go outside and document his adopted city. Along with his studio, Giacometti depicted streets and monuments, as well as the cafés and night bars of Montparnasse where he would hang out. The technique of drawing on transfer paper allowed for no changes and, for the first time, Giacometti had to stketch from life, on the spot, with no turning back possible. At the moment when he had to verify the proofs at the Mourlot printing house, Giacometti came accompanied by Eli Lotar, who photographed the process.
Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966)
As well as being a source of inspiration and a support for drawings, books were everywhere in his small, cramped studio. Apart from a handful of shelves on the wall in his bedroom, the artist showed little interest in looking after ‘all these books piled up on the sofa’. He made several drawings and prints of them, including two lithographs from Paris without End.
