ARTINFO has learned that the seller of “The Pointing Man,” the great Alberto Giacometti bronze sculpture that will be offered at Christie’s New York on May 11 with an estimate in the stratospheric region of $130 million, is the reclusive New York real estate magnate Sheldon Solow. According to a knowledgeable source, Solow acquired the hand-painted Giacometti bronze from the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1970.

Sidney Janis, a storied collector in his own right and a major benefactor to the Museum of Modern Art, had acquired it privately. The sculpture was exhibited and published in the second installment of the Sidney Janis Gallery 25th Anniversary exhibition and catalogue in October 1973 with the credit line, “Sheldon Solow Collection.”

Though it’s not advertised, part of Solow’s extensive modern art collection, including more works by Moore, Giacometti, and Miro, can be seen through the street level windows of 9 West 57th Street, the real estate developer’s signature, sloped glass 50-story skyscraper designed by Gordon Bunshaft in 1974 and officially called The Solow Building.

Solow is no stranger to selling top-class works of art at Christie’s. In February 2012 at Christie’s London, for example, Solow’s 96 ¼ inch long Henry Moore bronze, “Reclining Figure: Festival” from 1951, sold for a record £19,081,250/$30,316,572 (est. £3.5-5.5 million) to Cologne dealer Alex Lachmann. Solow had acquired it at Sotheby’s New York in May 1994 for $2,037,500. That same evening Solow’s rare and superb Joan Miro Surrealist work, “Painting-Poem” from 1925, sold for a then record £16,841,250/$26,609,175 to New York’s Acquavella Galleries. Solow bought the painting at Christie’s New York in November 1985 for $770,000 hammer.

Both works in the 2012 auction sold under the mostly anonymous title of “Property from a Private New York Collection.” Christie’s would only identify the consignor as “a private collector.”