Alberto Giacometti: Toward the Ultimate Figure
[For Halloween this year]
We thought it would be only fitting to feature this powerful and moody Giacometti past exhibition from The Cleveland Museum of Art. These are all our Eye Likey shots from the show / un-edited...so, pardon any glass reflections or blurred pics. If you were lucky enough to visit the exhibition in person, YAY! If not, well then….enjoy the wild works of the ALBERTO from our visit. (went twice) We also included a few extraordinary links below for your viewing pleasure ;)
PS. love his rough sketches + ballpoint pen drawings.
Probably our fav works in the show.
E.L.
The exhibition Alberto Giacometti: Toward the Ultimate Figure gathers an ensemble of masterpieces focusing on the artist’s major achievements of the postwar years (1945–66). Combining all media—sculpture, painting, and drawing—the show of 60 works draws upon the deep resources of the artist’s personal collection and examines a central, animating aspect of his oeuvre: his extraordinary, singular concern for the human figure. Co-organized by the Fondation Giacometti in Paris and the Cleveland Museum of Art, the exhibition will also be presented at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Seattle Art Museum; and the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966) owes his fame to his invention of a unique style of rendering human figures. During the last years of his life, the thin and elongated bodies animated by tormented surfaces became emblematic of his final, mature style. The exploration of an elemental body, its placement in space, and its relationship with the plinth are among the issues Giacometti confronted in trying to solve essential questions for modern sculpture in his continuous creative struggle. The process led him to create iconic human forms informed by a broad range of philosophical issues, as the exhibition reveals through the display of such masterworks as The Nose (1947) and Walking Man I (1960).
There has not been a Giacometti exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 48 years. So Sit back and enjoy this digital museum visit from E.L ;)
About
Alberto Giacometti was born in the Swiss village of Borgonovo. His father, Giovanni, a recognized Post-Impressionist painter, introduced him to painting and sculpture at a young age. Giacometti moved to Paris in 1922 and eventually settled in a 15-by-16-foot studio in the artists’ quarter of Montparnasse. He produced the greater part of his oeuvre in this tiny space, which he maintained until the end of his life. Giacometti’s brother Diego, also an artist, became his assistant; he and Annette Arm, whom Giacometti wed in 1949, were the artist’s most frequently rendered models. During his early years in Paris, Giacometti pursued a deep interest in Cubism and a fascination with the unconscious and dream imagery that led to his association with the Surrealists. African, Cycladic, Egyptian, and Oceanic art captured his attention as well, influencing the formal development of his figures. In the late 1930s he began sculpting pocket-size heads and figures in which he explored perspective and distance; these spatial concerns would remain paramount throughout his career. Giacometti may be best known, however, for the painted portraits and distinctive sculptures that he created in the late 1940s. These innovative works, including a series of elongated standing women, striding men, and expressive busts, resonated strongly with a public grappling with the extreme alienation and anxiety wrought by the devastation of World War II. Giacometti was unflinching in his portrayal of humanity at its most vulnerable.
special thanks /
CMA & also actor, Stanley Tucci for his super interesting and artistic film: THE FINAL PORTRAIT.
SOME COOL LINKS /
CMA/
https://www.clevelandart.org/exhibitions/alberto-giacometti-toward-ultimate-figure
CMA Magazine /
https://www.clevelandart.org/articles/giacomettis-creative-process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=sRsiW5c29Sk&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dfinalportait%26rlz%3D1C5CHFA_enUS885US894%26oq%3Dfinalportait%26aqs%3Dchrome..69i57j46i13i512j0i13i512l7.347&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY
COOL SHORT DOC on GIACOMETTI
by Stanley Tucci
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N05Ox0Lkkj0&t=143s
#TUCCI@ALCHEMY #DONTYOUDARETAKEMYPICTURE #MVFOLLIES
STUDIO VISIT: film / Giacometti (1967)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRsejf8xdC0
https://www.fondation-giacometti.fr/en
