PRESS RELEASE : Giacometti bronze chandelier at risk of leaving UK [July 2023]

The press release issued by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 13 July 2023.

Export bar placed on £2.9 million chandelier to allow time for a UK institution to acquire the work.

• Avant-garde bronze chandelier commissioned by Peter Watson in 1940s
• Giacometti is regarded as one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century

A unique bronze chandelier designed by renowned Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti shortly after the Second World War is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer can be found.

The chandelier, which is worth £2,922,000 plus VAT, is made from bronze and has a multi-layered armature, with sharply pointed branches radiating out from a central stem. Each socket is decorated with organic detailing and hanging from the base of the main stem is a punctuated sphere.

The piece was commissioned in 1947 from Giacometti by Peter Watson, a significant figure in the cultural life of mid-century Britain whose patronage of the arts and the influential Horizon magazine helped shape modern British painting, sculpture, and literature.

The piece is particularly valuable given Giacometti is widely regarded as one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century and it was  commissioned specifically for the offices of Horizon magazine. As a result, the chandelier is of particular interest for the study of mid-century European avant-garde art.

Arts & Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said:

Giacometti’s masterful exploration of space and use of bronze in this extraordinary chandelier provided a centrepiece for cultural discussion in post-war London as it hung in the offices of avant garde magazine, Horizon.

It is a prime example of sculptors blurring the boundaries between function and art in the decorative arts.

The minister’s decision follows the advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA).

Andrew Hochhauser KC, Chair RCEWA said:

Giacometti’s bronze chandelier was commissioned in about 1947 by Peter Watson, a significant figure in cultural life in the mid-20th century, a great patron of the arts in Britain and the co-founder of the literary and cultural magazine, Horizon, for its new offices in Bedford Square. It is an exceptional realisation of Giacometti’s work in the decorative arts and is the only known UK decorative art commission by the leading 20th century sculptor. It offers outstanding opportunities for the study of this neglected area of Giacometti’s output and the meeting of European avant-garde art and decorative arts in the mid-twentieth century. I sincerely hope it can find a home in this country where it can be studied and enjoyed.

The committee made its recommendation on the basis that the chandelier met the first, second and third Waverley criteria for its outstanding connection with our history and national life, its outstanding aesthetic importance and its outstanding significance to the study of Giacometti’s work in the decorative arts and the meeting of European avant-garde art and decorative arts in the mid-20th century.

The decision on the export licence application for the chandelier will be deferred for a period ending on 12th November 2023. At the end of the first deferral period owners will have a consideration period of 15 Business Days to consider any offer(s) to purchase the chandelier at the recommended price of £2,922,000 (plus VAT of £104,000 which can be reclaimed by an eligible institution). The second deferral period will commence following the signing of an Option Agreement and will last for four months.