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Carved from a slab of white marble, the top surface of this sculpture is covered with shallow, cuplike and deep rectangular depressions of various sizes. We look slightly down onto the slab in this photograph. The surface is divided into three vertical sections, which are defined by incised lines. The cuplike depressions are in the sections to the left and right. Two tiny, carved, dark wooden objects, like game pieces, stand upright in a cup with one the left and one to the right. Each piece is flat with a symmetrical design and a point at the bottom that inserts into the cup. The left piece has a disk flanked by triangular protrusions with a clover shape at top. The second piece has four stacked, small circles, and a U-shaped form to suggest the outline of a person with raised arms. Three smaller but deep rectangular cavities are carved into the middle section, and each one has a lid. Two lids sit askew on the top surface of the board near their respective openings, and inside are additional wooden pieces. A blank, rectangular section outlined with lightly inscised lines in the lower right is carved with reversed script letters that read, “on ne joue plus.” The entire surface has beveled edges, so it sits on a stepped base.

Alberto Giacometti

No More Play, 1931-1932

East Building, Upper Level — Gallery 415-B

Medium

marble, wood, and bronze

Dimensions

overall: 4.1 x 58 x 45.2 cm (1 5/8 x 22 13/16 x 17 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of The Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Collection, Dallas, Texas, in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art

Accession Number

1991.40.1

Artists / Makers

Alberto Giacometti (sculptor) Swiss, 1901 - 1966

Image Use

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Inscription

on lower right corner in reverse script: On ne joue plus

Provenance

Gift 1934 from the artist to Julien Levy [1906-1981], New York; his third wife and widow, Jean Farley Levy [d. 2003], Bridgewater, Connecticut; sold 1986 through (Zabriskie Gallery, New York) to Raymond D. Nasher [1921-2007], Dallas; gift (partial and promised) 1991 to NGA; gift completed 2007.

Associated Names

Levy, Julien
Levy, Julien, Mrs.
Nasher, Raymond D.

Exhibition History

1934: Abstract Sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, Julien Levy Gallery, New York, 1934, no. 2.

1945: Alberto Giacometti, Art of This Century, New York, 1945, no. 2.

1948: Alberto Giacometti: Exhibition of Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings, Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, 1948, no. 10.

1955: Giacometti, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 1955, unnumbered catalogue.

1965: Alberto Giacometti, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1965, no. 13, repro.

1968: Dada, Surrealism, and Their Heritage, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1968, no. 128, repro.

1986: 1936 Surrealism: Objects, Photographs, Collages, Documents, Zabriskie Gallery, New York, 1986, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

1987: A Century of Modern Sculpture: The Patsy and Raymond Nasher Collection, Dallas Museum of Art; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1987-1988, no. 27A, repro.

1991: Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, 332-333, color repro.

1992: Transform: BildObjektSkulptur im 20. Jahrhundert, Kunstmuseum Basel, 1992.

1994: Alberto Giacometti: A Loan Exhibition, Acquavella Galleries, New York, 1994, no. 4.

1996: A Century of Sculpture: The Nasher Collection, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum of Art, New York, 1997

2001: Alberto Giacometti, Kunsthaus Zürich; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001-2002, no. 54, repro.

2005: The Imagery of Chess: Revisited, The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, Long Island City, 2005-2006, fig. 14.

2009: Giacometti, Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2009, no. 41, repro..

2010: Atlas. How to Carry the World on One's Back?, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie, Museum für Neue Kunst, Karlsruhe; Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg, 2010-2011, unnumbered catalogue, repro. (shown only in Madrid).

2013: Giacometti: Terrenos de juego, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg; Instituto de Cultura, Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid, 2013, no. 25, repro.

2015: Marvelous Objects: Surrealist Sculpture from Paris to New York, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, 2015-2016, fig. 44.

2018: Giacometti, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2018, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

Bibliography

1994: Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 101, repro.