The Lust Collection: A Life Shaped by Giacometti

In the autumn of 1949, a young American Fulbright scholar arrived in Paris to read English Literature at the Sorbonne. Herbert Lust could scarcely have anticipated that this scholarly sojourn would yield something far more profound than academic credentials: a transformative friendship with one of the twentieth century's most luminous artistic voices, Alberto Giacometti.

From that chance encounter in the City of Light emerged a bond that would endure for nearly two decades and fundamentally reshape the character of a man. The sculptor's incisive intellect, his uncompromising honesty and his singular vision became the lens through which Lust himself would see the world. In his memoir, Lust would later reflect: 'Alberto was a selfless and magical friend. The same magic is in his art.'

A Collector's Awakening

What began as intellectual kinship blossomed into a collector's vocation. Drawn by Giacometti's formidable presence and unrelenting artistic rigour, Lust began to acquire works that would, over decades, crystallise into one of the most discerning assemblies of twentieth century modernism. The collection transcends mere accumulation; it represents instead a profound meditation on creativity, friendship and the transformative power of encountering greatness.

The crown jewel of this gathering is Figure, demie grandeur (no. 2), a work created in 1949—the very year Lust and Giacometti first met. That this sculpture should remain at the heart of the collection for more than fifty years speaks volumes about both the artist's prescience and the collector's constancy. The work embodies the essence of Giacometti's visual philosophy: the spare, attenuated human form rendered with philosophical depth and formal restraint.

A Life in Collecting

The Lust Collection extends far beyond the singular vision of Giacometti, encompassing works that speak to the collector's refined sensibility and his deep engagement with modernist practice across multiple mediums. Each acquisition reflects the intellectual companionship that marked Lust's years in Paris and the aestheticvalues he cultivated through proximity to one of the era's most uncompromising artists.

Now, the opportunity arises for the broader collecting world to encounter this extraordinary assembly. The works will be presented across two dedicated auctions, permitting both focused examination of the Giacometti holdings and appreciation of the full scope of a lifetime's considered acquisition.

The sale represents a rare moment in the auction calendar: the dispersal of a collection built not by investment imperative but by genuine intellectual and emotional affinity. It is a collection that speaks to what collecting, at its most noble, might truly mean—not the accumulation of objects, but the cultivation of a life lived in conversation with beauty, with genius, and with friendship itself.

Key Facts

• Landmark work: Figure, demie grandeur (no. 2) by Alberto Giacometti, 1949
• Collection owner: Herbert Lust, Fulbright scholar and collector
• Holding period: Over fifty years in the collection
• 20th Century Evening Sale: Christie's, New York, 17 November
• Herbert Lust Day Sale: Christie's, New York, 20 November

The Simply Luxury View

This collection's significance lies not in its market comprehensiveness but in its philosophical coherence. Lust's decades-long dialogue with Giacometti shaped his eye and his values as a collector, resulting in an assembly bound together by authentic connoisseurship rather than completism or trend.

For collectors of contemporary and modern works, the Lust Collection offers a masterclass in patient acquisition and thematic depth. The presence of Figure, demie grandeur (no. 2) from 1949—held for over half a century—exemplifies a collecting philosophy rooted in enduring conviction rather than fashionable rotation. It is a model increasingly rare in an age of rapid acquisition and disposal.

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