The Étoile table lamp, designed in 1936, subtly manifests the primordial tendencies of Alberto Giacometti’s celebrated practice. With its intentionally uneven surface treatment, the lamp appears to the viewer as a precious artifact uncovered during an archaeological dig. The resulting effect is a fixture that bespeaks the avant-garde taste of its original collectors, as well as Giacometti’s capacity for effortlessly fusing modern and primeval forms. Giacometti designed this work prior to the sculptures for which he is most known, works marked by their elongated yet distinctly figurative forms, which seem to belong to a past time and civilization.
"For my livelihood, I accepted to make anonymous utilitarian objects for a decorator at that time, Jean-Michel Frank…I realized I was developing a vase exactly as I would a sculpture and that there was no difference between what I called sculpture and what was an object!"
—Alberto GiacomettiThe Étoile lamp foregrounds these later pieces, similarly raising questions on the layering of time and form. Giacometti designed this model, along with approximately 100 other utilitarian objects, for French interior designer Jean-Michel Frank. A mutually beneficial collaboration, Frank aspired to create volumes that embodied the “luxury of nothing.” Characteristically Frank interiors were marked by their decorous tranquility, furnished with only the most necessary works of design. The Étoile lamp indeed proved requisite, not only for providing light, but also for its sculptural form.
