Reproductions of drawings of Alberto Giacometti are sometimes sold wrongly as prints.

REPRODUCTION OF DRAWINGS SOLD AS PRINTS

Two pen and ink drawings, made by Giacometti in 1954 and 1955, were reproduced by photo-engraving on a metal plaque after the artist’s death and without the consent of his widow.

The plaques were used to produce an edition of 70 on Arches paper, included by the publisher Louis Broder in the portfolio published in 1968 under the title La Magie quotidienne. The edition of these two plaques does not give rise to original prints, but good quality reproductions. Nota bene: these reproductions are listed by mistake as prints in the two editions of the Herbert Lust catalogue of prints (New York, 1970, and San Francisco, 1991).

[PDF] reproductions of drawings by engraving

PRINTS FROM CANCELLED COPPER-PLATES 

The prints made by Alberto Giacometti were for the most part produced in limited editions during his lifetime. The production run made by a printer on behalf of the publisher complied with the number of prints earmarked for the edition. Traditionally, once printed, the matrices must be cancelled in order to avoid any unauthorized printing; to this effect, they are either defaced or destroyed. Nevertheless, two galvanoplasties of the defaced copper-plates have been published.

In accordance with the principles issued by the Chambre Syndicale de l’Estampe, du Dessin et du Tableau, the Alberto and Annette Giacometti Foundation does not recognize these prints as original works, but only as documentary prints. When these documentary prints are not authorized, they are counterfeits.

[PDF] Prints from cancelled copper-plates