The Pulitzer, Art, and the Public

Liz Deichmann

Fr. Dempsey

The Pulitzer, Art, and the Public

29 February 2007

Alberto Giacometti

Alberto Giacometti was born on October 10, 1901 in Stampa, located in the Italian speaking part of Switzerland, to Giovanni and Annette Giacometti. Alberto was the first of four children and was very close to his entire family; it is well known that this strong relationship influenced his art and was the driving force behind him becoming an artist (Brenson). Actually, three of the Giacometti children chose to work in some capacity with art thanks to the art-centric life that the family lead. Both Alberto’s father, a nationally recognized post impressionist landscape painter, and Cuno Amiet, Alberto’s godfather and noted Fauvist painter, encouraged Alberto from an early age to pursue art (“Giacometti”). Throughout his teens, Alberto received informal instruction from his father while helping and observing him in his art studio. This is where Alberto was able to explore both his natural artistic ability and the fear he struggled with while trying to find how to express his thoughts and his own point of view as an artist.

Once in my father's studio, when I was eighteen or nineteen, I was drawing some pears, which were on a table - at the usual still-life distance. But they kept getting smaller and smaller. I'd begin again, and they'd always go back to exactly the same size. My father got irritated and said: 'now start doing them as they are, as you see them. And he corrected them to life-size. I tried to do them like that, but I couldn't help rubbing out; so I rubbed them out, and half an hour later my pears were exactly as small to the millimetre as the first ones. (Lord)

This marks the beginning of Alberto’s confrontation with how to express his perceptions of reality through his selected mediums.

Once Giacometti turned 18 in 1919, and finished secondary schooling, his father encouraged him to continue his study of art at the School of Arts and Crafts in Geneva (Lucie-Smith). This marked the end of Giacometti’s childhood and the security that he felt at home, now on his own his feelings of isolation and lonliness would escalate and dominate not only the rest of his life but, the work that he would produce. Despite these growing sediments, Alberto decided to continue studying abroad and next attended school in Italy where he studied at various locations like Padua, Venice and Rome. In May of 1920 Giovanni Giacometti exhibited some of his work in Venice inviting Alberto to visit and experience some of the great Italian art with his father. His studies in Italy were highly influential as the art in these cities presented many ancient art styles that dealt with realism of their subjects in many different ways (“Giacometti”). After, studying Italy until 1922 Alberto moved to the art-centric city of Paris to further his studies at the Académie de la Grande-Chaumière with the artist Émile-Antoine Bourdelle. Bourdelle was another important influence in Alberto’s life as he was a prominent sculptor, thanks to admiration from his colleague Roudin, and was able teach and shape the career of many important 20th century European artists (Brenson).

After finishing his studies at the Académie de la Grande-Chaumière, Giacometti and his brother, Diego, decided to open a studio together in Paris where they could work on their respective careers. It is at this point in time that Alberto can be labeled as a post-cubist or surrealist artist, a claim supported by such early works as 1926’s “Cubist Composition” and his works between 1930-1932 such as “Suspended Ball” (Lucie-Smith). In 1928 Giacometti became a fashionable, young artist as he produced popular works such as “Observable Head” which lead to his first exhibition at the Galerie Jeanne Bucher in Paris and popularity among the avant-garde artists (Lord). After this exhibition, Alberto accepted an offer to have the surrealist art dealer Pierre Loeb represent his works; it was more a symbolic offer for Giacometti to join the elite surrealist art circle in Paris. It is reported that these same artists shunned Giacometti in 1935 when he decided to represent reality in his art (“Giacometti”). His newly inspired focus on realism during a period dominated by avant-garde art emphasized his non-conforming personality and his desire to truly represent what he saw and felt in his art.

After Giacometti established himself as a creditable artist in Paris, a series of events unfolded in his life, which brought a newfound sense of self, and therefore, art. The first momentous occasion was Giovanni Giacometti’s death in 1933, which deeply affected Alberto despite his inability to make the funeral because of illness. About this time, Alberto also faced an accident where his foot was run over by a car, leaving him with a limp and relying on a cane for the rest of his life (Brenson). By the late 1930’s World War II was enveloping the European continent and Giacometti could not escape the feeling of impeding doom. By 1941, Giacometti made the decision to remove himself from the hostile Paris and its art world for work with his brother Bruno in Geneva. During this time in Geneva, Alberto worked with his brother producing chairs and furniture in his workshop. It was here that Alberto met Annette Arm, a local in Geneva, whom he started to take a strong interest in. Giacometti continued to make some of his art but, this was vastly different then anything that he completed in Paris. The figures that he sculpted during this time became long, skinny and languid and are some of his best-known works (Lord). He often described the process of completing these figures in very much the same way as he did drawing those pears in his father’s studio- despite his best efforts the sculptures would shrink as he tried to capture an image that eluded him. These statues occupied his experience with death and reality that had dominated his life for so long up to this point.

By late 1946 Giacometti moved back to his old studio in Paris and by 1948 had his first major exhibit in New York at the Pierre Matisse Gallery. It was one of the first A This was a nod to the artist’s profound new portrayal of the human form and his effort to relate to the reality of how both he and his subject preceded the subject. After this show, interest in Giacometti’s work was on the rise with his exhibitions in many major European cities and the realistic paintings that he began to produce in the 1950’s (Lucie-Smith). These popularity leads to Giacometti’s 1962 major win at the Venice Biennale in the category of sculpture. This prize showed the appreciation that many felt for Giacometti’s work through out the decades because of its importance in modern art and cemented Giacometti’s reputation through out the world as an original and inventive artist. During the last three years of his life, Alberto suffered from many health problems, including cancer and bronchitis and stopped producing his art. Giacometti died in June 1966 in Chur, Switzerland of heart disease (Brenson). Through out his life Alberto Giacometti continued to reinvent his artistic style so that he could capture the authenticity of his own perceptions and ideas, which lead to a prolific and varied collection that will continue to be appreciated.

“L’Egyptienne”, a bust of Isabel Nicholas made in 1937, is an important piece in Giacometti’s work as it highlights his transition from considering himself a surrealist artist to focus on reality in his works. Although this was a break from Giacometti’s past surrealist work in Paris it was in no way out of context of his artistic vision and interests. He had a life long fascination with the style and reality of ancient art that he first experienced in Italy during his time there in the early 1920’s (“Giacometti”). He had now found that Isabel’s classic Egyptian beauty begged to be represented in such a classical and realistic style. Michael Brenson once reviewed one of Giacometti’s exhibits saying, “No artist struggled harder then Giacometti to make the ancient drama built into the human figure responsive to the conditions to the 20th century.” It almost seems as if Giacometti wanted to present the influences of ancient and modern art as a dual force. He is able to do just this by injecting a sense of naturalism that transcends into modernity, as Egyptian art cannot with its rigid frontality. It is worth mentioning that his choice of model was no coincidence, Isabel was a well-known art model in Paris and had an intimate relationship with Giacometti for some time (Pulitzer). Overall, this addresses Giacometti’s departure from surrealism and his search to depict what reality meant to him and how important it was to represent figures as not only he saw them but as they saw themselves.

There is a second bust included in the Pulitzer exhibit of Giacometti’s called “Head of Diego on Base” which was made in 1958. This time the subject is Alberto’s brother, which is not a surprising choice considering the fact that Alberto and Diego had lived very closely for a number of years and Alberto had completed a similar series of busts earlier in his career.

Diego's head is the one I know best. He's posed for me over a longer period of time and more often than anyone else. From 1935 to 1940 he posed for me every day, and again after the war for years. So when I draw or sculpt or paint a head from memory it always turns out to be more or less Diego's. (Pulitzer)

This familiarity that Alberto felt for the image of Diego seems to be represented as if the bust is a portrait of their relationship instead of a realistic interpretation of the subject as Isabel was portrayed. What makes this bust distinct from others is the fact that there is a familiarity between the artist and subject that is represented by Alberto sculpting based on how he views the subject. It is fair to say that Alberto felt the biggest challenge in his artistic experience was representing the human face, “It seems impossible to do that- to make a head the way I see it… Between now and tomorrow though I’ve got to manage (Brenson).” The bronze statue of Diego captures the internal struggle and self-doubt that Alberto always felt when depicting the human head and his answer to this problem was to represent how he best understood Diego- through his very intimate relationship.

The last Giacometti piece in the current Pulitzer exhibit is a painting titled, “Portrait of David Sylvester” which was finished in 1960. This painting is an epic work of David Sylvester who was an art critic and friend of Giacometti’s, who agreed to sit for the artist after being approached. Giacometti was notorious for being difficult on his subjects and models; Sylvester reported having to sit 20 different times before the painting was finished (Lucie-Smith). It seems as if this portrait is an example of the process that Giacometti had to go through to produce a work, “At one stage, after a few days, the head was rather bright in colour, predominantly terracotta; within a day or two it was grey and dark; later some colour came back, then went again (Pulitzer).” For Giacometti, the process was essentially trial and error with his vision of the work motivating him through the long process of creation. Giacometti was known for putting more emphasis on the creation of his artwork then what was actually produced. Giacometti said, “Everything ends in failure” illustrating a certain alienation that he always felt with his art (Lord). This alienation that divided the artist from his work can be further understood when one hears that Giacometti often called his artworks objects, as they meant little to nothing to him. This artwork underlines the relationship that Giacometti had with his art, namely the fact that he did not have one that was worth anything to him, he was much more concerned with his efforts to depict the subject faithful to his own interpretation of it.

The Pulitzer catalogue defines the concept of portraiture, homage and embodiment in its in a way that perfectly explains the selection and inclusion of Giacometti’s works in this particular exhibit.

In addition to new takes on traditional portraiture where physical likeness is emphasized, artworks on view also explore different ways to convey the presence of an individual. Some works invite a physical experience, where others encourage the viewer to imagine the lives and identities of the portrayed rather than focus on physical features. By going beyond traditional representation, the artists emphasize a personal relationship between the viewer and the work of art.

Giacometti’s work is about the artistic process he employed, “to convey the presence of the individual.” His obsession, in later life, revolved around his attempts to capture a portrait of both how he interpreted an individual and how that individual saw them self. This is supported by the title of “existential reality” that describes his work. It implies that Alberto wanted to accurately represent the experience of understanding all dimensions of a person. In essence, Giacometti wanted to include all the facets of a person- the physical, emotional, and spiritual. For example, “Head of Diego on Base” is a physical representation and summation of the entirety of emotions and impressions that Giacometti retained from his life long relationship with his brother. It is an epic piece, much like the others included in this exhibit, as they are able to show Giacometti’s rare ability to communicate the essence of a person through his work to the viewers. Shearer defines portraiture in her book in this way:

Portraits are not just likenesses but, works of art that engage the ideas of identity as they are perceived, represented, and understood in different times and places. ‘Identity’ can encompass the character, personality, social standing, relationships, profession, age and gender of the portrait subject (West 11).