About People

1. About People Alberto Giacometti

2. Enduring Understanding Students will understand that artworks do encapsulate the themes of identity and relationships in a variety of ways.

3. Essential Questions Overarching Questions What is an identity ? How do artists form identity or relationships with their art? Topical Questions What is existentialism? What is the influence of existentialism in the works of some artists? How does transience impact on existence ?

4. When 1901 - 1966 How Sculptures Where Switzerland Alberto Giacometti Why Surrealist Influence War Experiences Haunting of Death Existentialism Which Surrealism What Modernity and Alienation Living Patterns Transience 5W1H

5. Biographical Outline 1901: Born in Borgonova, Stampa, Switzerland, near the border of Italy. 1915: He went to a boarding school in Schiers. 1919-20: He attended the School of Fine Arts in Geneva and another school nearby, School of Arts and Crafts. 1920: He visited Italy with his father and saw the works of art by the great Italian masters with his own eyes. 1922: He studied under sculptor Antoine Bourdelle at Académie de la Grande-Chaumière.

6. When (1901- 1966) 1914-18: World War I. 1924: Surrealist Manifesto. 1938: Jean-Paul Sartre’s La Nausee 1944:Beauvoir’s Pyrrhus et Cinéas 1939-45: World War II. 940s-90s: Cold War 1950-53: Korean War. 1957-75: Vietnam War.

7. Where Switzerland • Switzerland was neutral during WWI & II. • Although there were plans drawn against Switzerland by the Germans but she was never attacked. • She managed to remain free form the invasion due to military deterrence, economic concession to Germany and also events in the war delayed any annexation on the country. Paris • Paris was the center of art in 19th and 20th C Europe, before WWII.

8. What Subject Matter • Portraits- usually of his immediate family and friends. His mother (Annetta), his wife (Annette) and his brother (Diego). • Figures- man (active) and women (passive). Eg: Man pointing, walking while women standing. • Figures- isolated or in a distant group. • Initially they were small but became attenuated and emaciated.

9. What Theme • He wanted to show a more individualistic view of his subject- “what he felt about them, his sense of their otherness and their separateness from him.” • One evening, he had seen his friend from a distance and was fascinated that he could still recognize him at that distance. Hence, the rough outlines of his figures could be an attempt to capture that distance.

10. What Theme • Modernity and Alienation? Giacometti speaks of loneliness in modern city life. Though the streets may be crowded with people, but the frantic lifestyle never allow each other’s eyes to meet nor exchanging friendly words. The city is filled with people who live alone with no friends and surrounded by millions of faceless city-dwellers. • Perpetuating the Transience “The days pass, and I delude myself that I am trapping, holding back, what’s fleeting”. ( Sylvester, 1994). Capturing the sense of the transitory- our perception is constantly shifting.

11. What Theme • Living Patterns in Humanity Giacometti did say that he never intended his works to express Existentialism nor loneliness. It’s the people on the streets that interest him. It’s the living patterns and the way they interacted with one another.

12. His 2-D Work This work has sometimes been known as 'Sketch for "Pointing Man" ' on account of the left-hand figure's resemblance to this sculpture below: Two Figures, 1947 Oil on paper, 41.9 x 59.7 cm Tate Gallery, UK

13. His 2-D Work The Studio 1, 1954 Lithograph on paper, 54 x 43.9 cm Tate Gallery, UK

14. His 2-D Work Diego, 1959 Oil on canvas, 66.4 x 55.3 cm Tate Gallery, UK

15. His 2-D Work Caroline, 1965 Oil on canvas, 132 x 82.4 cm Tate Gallery, UK

16. His Early Work Spoon Woman, 1926-27, cast 1954 Bronze, x 143.8 x 51.4 x 21.6 cm Guggenheim Museum, New York

17. What- Spoon Woman • This is Giacometti’s first major sculpture. • It is inspired by the human-shaped spoons used by the Dan tribe in Africa. • These spoons were available at his time in the Paris museum. • The dominant part of the sculpture is the belly-like bowl of the spoon. • The spoon handle appears to be the waist and above it, the breasts. • Below the belly-like bowl, the legs function as the base or pedestal. • The belly-like bowl of the spoon can be liken to a woman’s womb.

18. What- Influence of Spoon Woman Dan Spoons

19. His Cubist Work Composition (Man and Woman), 1927 Bronze, 39.5 x 45.5 x 15 cm Tate Gallery, UK

20. His Surrealistic Work “It was no longer the exterior forms that interested me but what I really felt.” - Giacometti- Hour of the Traces, 1930 Painted plaster, wood and steel, 68.6 x 36.2 x 28.6 cm Tate Gallery, UK

21. His Surrealistic Work “There was clearly a Surrealistic atmosphere that influenced me.” - Giacometti- Woman with Her Throat Cut, 1932 Bronze, 22 x 87.5 x 53 cm Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh

22. What- Woman with Her Throat Cut • This work is definitely Surrealistic in style. • It is a metaphor for sexual pleasure and violence. • This insect-like form is taken from the praying mantis- an insect known to devour the male counterpart after mating. • One of the arms ends with a cylindrical weight that according to the artist

23. His Surrealistic Work “We used to construct a fantastic palace at night…a very fragile palace of matchsticks” - Giacometti- The Palace at 4 a.m., 1932-3 Wood, wire, glass and string, 63.5 x 71.4 x 40 cm Museum of Modern Art, New York

24. What- The Palace at 4 a.m. • It has a cage-like structure which also looks like a model for a stage. • The figure on the left is his mother while the three panels behind her are actually a curtain. • The wave-like shape on the right is a spinal column. • The bird on the top right looks like a pterodactyl species (flying reptiles of the dinosaur age). • Both the spinal column and the dinosaur-bird are memories associated with a female friend of his. • He identifies himself with the oval shape object with a tiny ball on it, at the center. • The whole work reflects nothing of reality but instead the weirdness of dreams and memories.

25. His Later Work? The form echoes ancient Egypt and Greek art. Walking Woman, 1932-33/1936 Bronze, 149.9 x 27.6 x 37.8 cm Tate Gallery, London

26. His Later Work? The form echoes ancient Egypt and Greek art. Walking Woman, 1932-33/1936 Bronze, 149.9 x 27.6 x 37.8 cm Tate Gallery, London

27. His Early Work Wall painting of Queen Nefertari ? The Invisible Object, 1934 Bronze, 153 x 32 x 29 cm National Gallery of Art, Washington

28. What- Hands Holding the Void (Invisible Object) • The figure is stylized and shows a woman seated on a chair. Her hands appear to be holding the void- an empty space. • It reflects the Ancient Egyptian sculptures that Giacometti so admired. • This suggests an interpretation that is seen from the ancient Egyptian’s perspective. • Egyptians believed that a person’s memory and personality lived on after death. • They often depicted the memory as a bird with a human head and arms. • Upon close scrutiny, the right armrest of the chair looks like a bird. Does this mean that she’s holding onto an invisible soul?

29. The Nose, 1947 Metal, cord, painted plaster, 82 x 42 x 40.5 cm Kunstmuseum Basel, UK

30. His Later Work Man Pointing, 1947 Bronze, 178 x 95 x 53 cm Tate Gallery, UK

31. His Later Work Three Men Walking II, 1949 Bronze, 76.5 x 33 x 32.4 cm Metropolitan Museum of Art, US

32. His Later Work City Square, 1948 Bronze, 58.5 x 44.5 x25 cm Private Collection

33. What- City Square • The walking figures are all men. • The figure at the center with arms at the sides is a woman. • This is commonly spotted in Giacometti’s post-war figures- men are active while women are passively still, frozen to the ground. • He once said that “every second the people stream together and go apart…the men walk past each other, and they pass without looking. If not, they stalk a woman, so all the four men walk towards the woman standing still at the center.

34. His Later Work Standing Woman, 1948-48 Bronze, 168 x 15.9 x 34 cm Tate Gallery, UK

35. His Paintings Four Figurines on a Base, 1950/65 Bronze, 156.2 x 41.9 x 31.4 cm Tate Gallery, UK

36. What- Four Figurines on a Base • He related this work to a time when he sat outside a Paris brothel. • He saw four naked women at the far end of the room. • He recalled; “The distance which separated us, the polished floor, seemed insurmountable in spite of my desire to cross it and impressed me as much as the women’ • The minute size of the figures and the heavy base with gradient sides implies a floor that is retreating or receding and thus recreates the sense of distance.

37. His Later Work Bust of Diego, 1955 Bronze, 56.5 x 32 x 14.5 cm Tate Gallery, UK

38. What- Bust of Diego • From the mid 1950s, Giacometti concentrated on portraiture. • He repeatedly drew and sculpted his immediate circle of family and friends. • Diego who sat for this bust is his younger brother, a year in age difference. • Diego often sat for him, as his model. • The head is flattened which allows Giacometti to play up the profile. • This approach is reminiscent of ancient Egyptian figures. • However, apart from providing a visual impact on the audience with Diego’s accentuated profile, it also provided some form of psychological intensity when viewed from the front.

39. His Paintings Venice Woman IX, 1956 Bronze, 113 x 16.5 x 34.6 cm Tate Gallery, UK

40. His Later Work Standing Woman, c.1958-9 Bronze, 68.6 x 140 x 27 cm Tate Gallery, UK

41. His Later Work Standing Woman, c.1958-9 Bronze, 69.2 x 13.7 x 24.1 cm Tate Gallery, UK

42. His Later Work Standing Woman, c.1958-9 Bronze, 65.1 x 12.1 x 20 cm Tate Gallery, UK

43. His Paintings Annette IV, 1962 Bronze, 57.8 x 23.6 x 21.8 cm Tate Gallery, UK

44. His Later Work The Chariot, 1950 Bronze, 142.2 cm Private Collection

45. What- The Chariot • The sculpture is immovable because it is raised on two plinths • It cannot be rolled across the floor because the wheels are fixed. • The figure stands tall and thin with its feet anchored onto a platform that stands on a connective pole between the two wheels. • The Chariot suggests stillness and movement. • This woman’s arms are not at the sides but held away from her body.

46. Lotar III, 1965 Bronze, 65 x 25 x 35 cm Private Collection

47. What- Lotar III • Lotar is based on a friend Elie Lotar, who was a photographer. • He knew Giacometti since the 1920s. • He was modelling this bust during his last days in Paris before leaving for a hospital in the Swiss town of Chur. • After when he died, his brother Diego cast the sculpture in bronze and place it on his grave in Borgonova.

48. Why His Background • Giacometti’s father Giovanni and his godfather Cuno Amier were artists themselves. • He started drawing at an early age, creating illustrations for the books he read. • Giovanni encouraged his son’s artistic developments and his extensive library was a source of inspiration and research to his young son. He learned about the masters of the past and copied their works. • He was most happy when working in his father’s studio as a schoolboy.

49. Why His Background • At Schiers, his talent was recognized and admired by his teachers and fellow students. He was even given a private studio. • When he was at Italy with his father, they were living in Venice and the young Giacometti was thrilled by the paintings of Tintoretto and the frescoes of Giotto. • He was particularly struck by the gentle expression and posture of Giotto’s figures in The Lamentation of Christ, c. 1305.

50. Why- His Influence Giotto di Bondone (c.1267-1337) • Commonly known as Giotto, he was an Italian painter and architect from Florence Italy. • He is considered to be the pioneers in contributing to Italian Renaissance. • Giotto’s frescoes are found in the Scovegni Chapel, in Padua Italy. It’s owner commissioned Giotto to decorate the church.