Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti (Swiss) (1901- 1966) was a Swiss artist who could be described as multi-faceted, creating sculptures, paintings and works in print, and one of the great artists of the twentieth century. Working mainly from his Parisian studio (and home) at 46 Rue Hippolyte-Maindron in Montparnasse, Paris, where he moved in December 1926 and would remain for the rest of his life.
Photo Credit: Wolfgang Kuhn United Archives via Getty Images
Sculpture was his predominant output but toward the end of his life painting would become equally significant and reflective of his creative productivity. His work was heavily influenced by styles such as Surrealism and Cubism, but arguably his abiding legacy will be more associated with a deep philosophical connectivity and the burning issues with regard to the human condition. At some point towards the mid 1930’s his attention would switch to more figurative works and it was this change in direction that would see his abiding influence and style created within his elongated life like figures that were both totemic and utterly mesmerising.
“The form is always the measure of the obsession”
While capturing realism, movement and feelings of unanswered drama, the figures ask questions of us, not least about life, but life on the edge of death. Each skelitorial figure captures motion, be it a subtle gesture, pointing, walking, which nonetheless seem to embody a deep sense of ‘aloneness’ and irrespective of the crowd as with, ‘City Square 1’ (1948), singular or plural, the sense of isolation is omnipotent. His hugely powerful figures, their roughly worked surfaces convey the scars of life, tactile to the touch, oddly lifelike they leave enough unsaid, enough time and space where we can make some form of connectivity and in doing so confront the reflections of ourselves through these emancipated characters.
The production of these figures became his signature which in his own minds eye were never fully formed and always had something else to offer, Giacometti said; ‘I can’t stop myself’ when asked about the process of their creation often a visceral response to memory, his characters like ‘Man pointing’ (1947) or ‘Walking Man’ (1960) or ‘Four Figures on a Stand’ (cast c. 1965/6) the latter a memory of four naked women in a Parisian brothel, the Sphinx Club he noticed while making one of his many frequent visits, their isolation palpable, despite no doubt being the centre of attention by those around and a moment that would capture his creative response.
There is a fragility in his work, and whether intentional or not an unspoken attempt at questioning ‘purpose’ through a narrative of latent subtleties that have to be uncovered by the viewer if ever at all, and much like ‘meaning’ or a ‘lesson learned’ each will take something from the experience having faced down their own reality. Much of this work was created post World War II and the horrors that accompanied such an event like the Holocaust and a clear similarity can be seen in the imagery, however Giacometti, and his characters were created from a much deeper perspective, and arguably a not-so-subtle reminder of man’s inhumanity to man.
As with so many great artists, Giacometti carried with him the almost inevitable insecurities that accompany the misunderstood genius and when asked while working on a sculpture at the height of his creativity, he commented, ‘I might not even be a sculptor at all, I feel I don’t understand volume’ (Alberto Giacometti).
Giacometti was a sculptor, and perhaps more importantly a communicator of the unspoken word.
Through the smallest almost irreverent gesture, he was able to capture empathetic emptiness bound up in the purposeful stride of a self-consumed man, a lone female figure or a cluster of mutual souls, unnoticed and irrelevant their silent gestures pulling you closer to that place where reality and imagination stand side by side and in that uncomfortable moment, what needs to be said, is there for those who wish to hear.