Alberto Giacometti

Lore & Background

Giacometti was born in Borgonovo, Switzerland, the second of four children of Giovanni Giacometti, a post-Impressionist painter. He was interested in art from an early age and attended the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Genève. In 1922 he moved to Paris to study under Antoine Bourdelle, and in 1926 he settled in a studio at 46 rue Hippolyte-Maindron in Montparnasse, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. There he experimented with Cubism and Surrealism and became regarded as a leading Surrealist sculptor. Around 1935 he gave up surrealist influences to pursue figurative compositions. Between 1938 and 1944 his sculptures had a maximum height of seven centimetres; their small size reflected the distance between artist and model. After World War II he created his most famous sculptures: extremely tall and slender figurines. He married Annette Arm, a Red Cross secretary, on 19 July 1949; she became his main female model. In 1962 he won the grand prize for sculpture at the Venice Biennale, bringing worldwide fame. He died on 11 January 1966.

Reader's Guide

Giacometti's significance lies in his unique sculptural approach, which reduced human figures to thin, elongated forms that seem invaded by surrounding void. His technique involved heavily worked, eroded surfaces, as seen in works like Three Men Walking (II). He rarely deviated from three themes: the walking man, the standing nude woman, and the bust. His work resists easy categorization—described as formalist, expressionist, or concerned with 'blocs of sensation.' Philosopher William Barrett linked Giacometti's figures to the theme of nothingness in modern art. Giacometti also wrote texts for periodicals and exhibition catalogues, and his prints, though often overlooked, were produced in small editions. His later years saw large exhibitions across Europe and a 1965 show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. His last work was the book Paris sans fin, a sequence of 150 lithographs. A 2011–2012 exhibition at the Pinacothèque de Paris highlighted his inspiration from Etruscan art.

Did You Know?

• Between 1938 and 1944, Giacometti's sculptures had a maximum height of seven centimetres (2.75 inches).
• He was a descendant of Protestant refugees escaping the inquisition.
• He visited New York in 1965 for an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, before the Chase Manhattan Bank project was finalized.
• His cousin Zaccaria Giacometti became a professor of constitutional law and later rector of the University of Zurich.

Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)

"Alberto Giacometti (10 October 1901 – 11 January 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draughtsman and printmaker." — Alberto Giacometti "Figures were never for me a compact mass but like a transparent construction." — Alberto Giacometti "There was a third element in reality that concerned me: movement." — Alberto Giacometti "That's the terrible thing: the more one works on a picture, the more impossible it becomes to finish it." — Alberto Giacometti