Grande tête mince is a bronze sculpture

Bronze sculpture

Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze".Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Then, as the bronze cools, it...

 by Alberto Giacometti

Alberto Giacometti

Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman, and printmaker.Alberto Giacometti was born in the canton Graubünden's southerly alpine valley Val Bregaglia and came from an artistic background; his father, Giovanni, was a well-known post-Impressionist painter...

. The work was conceived in 1954 and cast the following year. Auctioned in 2010, Grande tête mince became one of the most valuable sculptures ever sold when it fetched $53.3 million.

Description

Grande tête mince, translated as "Large thin head", has alternatively been known as Grande tête ("Large head"), Grande tête tranchante ("Large sharp head"), and Grande tête de Diego ("Large head of Diego"). The bronze sculpture is modelled on Giacometti or his brother Diego and stands at 25 1/2 inch (65 cm), making it one of the largest of his works. On the front it is signed and numbered "Alberto Giacometti 3/6" and the foundry mark "Susse Fondeur" is inscribed on the back. The sculpture is one of an mid-1950s series male busts by Giacometti, who began the piece in 1954 and cast it in early 1955.

The dimensions of the work are unusual, distorting the proportions to make the head tall and thin:

Auction

Grande tête mince had an estimated value of $25–$35 million. It was easily surpassed when an anonymous bidder paid $53,282,500 for the sculpture, one of the highest prices ever achieved. Just three months earlier Giacometti's L'Homme qui marche I

L'Homme qui marche I

L’Homme qui marche I is the name of any one of the cast bronze sculptures that comprise six numbered editions plus four artist proofs created by Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti in 1961...

had been auctioned by Sotheby's

Sotheby's

Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...

 for $104.3 million, by far the highest sale price for a sculpture and at the time the most valuable work of art. Picasso

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...

's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, sold as part of the same collection as Grande tête mince, broke that record to become the most expensive work of art ever to be sold at auction.

For a time Grande tête mince was the property of the Pierre Matisse Gallery

Pierre Matisse

Pierre Matisse was an art dealer active in New York City. He was the youngest child of French painter Henri Matisse.-Background and early years:...

 in New York, before being sold to Sidney and Frances Brody

Frances Lasker Brody

Frances Lasker Brody, was an American arts advocate, collector and philanthropist who influenced the development of Los Angeles' cultural life as a founding benefactor of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and later as a guiding patron of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Gardens.Mrs....

 on 19 May 1955. Sidney Brody died in 1983 and Frances retained the work until her death in November 2009. Christie's

Christie's

Christie's is an art business and a fine arts auction house.- History :The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766...

 won the rights to auction 27 of their works of art, selling them under the title "Property from the Collection of Mrs. Sidney F. Brody" on 4 May 2010. Included in the collection were several highly valuable works, including Giacometti's Le Chat and paintings and sculptures by renowned artists Picasso, Moore

Henry Moore

Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....

, Modigliani

Amedeo Modigliani

Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian painter and sculptor who worked mainly in France. Primarily a figurative artist, he became known for paintings and sculptures in a modern style characterized by mask-like faces and elongation of form...

, Degas

Edgar Degas

Edgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...

, Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Pierre-Auguste Renoir was a French artist who was a leading painter in the development of the Impressionist style. As a celebrator of beauty, and especially feminine sensuality, it has been said that "Renoir is the final representative of a tradition which runs directly from Rubens to...

, and Matisse

Henri Matisse

Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...

.