NOT ALWAYS TALL AND SKINNY

At the end of my first day to see the Expressionists, there was a « drink » break and then on to see the Alberto Giacometti « Drawings and Watercolours ». (1901-1966)

I think we all have a tendency to see his work as « tall and skinny » and mainly sculptures or drawings in preparation for his sculptures. 

The dog 1951

I was very pleasantly surprised to see that he had completed many works before he started his sculptures. The exhibition was based on all the works from the early years in Stampa to his period in Paris which has long held a special meaning for the Giocometti family. It included copies of works by Dürer, Mantegna, Holbein and Hodler made by a precocious Giacometti between the ages of 12 and 15. They were followed in the 1920s by studies of Romanesque and Egyptian sculptures, 

 

Little man 1926

while in the 1930s he began to engage with the work of Matisse, Cézanne and Rodin, though producing creations that were very much his own. The selection also shows important images of family members and various self-portraits, as well as landscapes from around Stampa and Maloja, studio views, and masterly figure studies from the 1950s and 1960s. 

self portrait 1921

Nude 1923 (Maria?)

Maria 1934

Small nude 1964

Mother in his studio 1962 and strange how the light seems to come through the window

1916

1918

Self Portrait 1918 - at 17

The portrait of his Father done in the same year did take me by surprise. They didn’t really look like the same person. In fact apart from a couple of his self portraits, the others were not so flattering.

His father 1932

His father 1932

However, the watercolors were divine although they didn’t exactly have a « Giacometti » signature to them. The colors were relatively strong, not unlike the impressionists. Something one would like in the bedroom but not paintings which would necessarily catch  your attention if out of the artistic exhibition context. 

1912

Figure in a mountain landscape 1956

1915

Picasso - Woman's bust 1940

I know he knew Picasso, but what I don't know is why this painting was included in the exhibition.





This collection was given to the Kunsthaus Zürich by Bruno Giacometti (24 August 1907 – 21 March 2012) who was a Swiss architect and the brother of the artists Alberto and Diego Giacometti. He was among the most notable post-World War II architects in Switzerland. This is the kind of information I pick up when going to such exhibitions. I certainly didn’t know that the brother had given such a collection to the museum, nor that he was such a famous architect. Not surprising, I suppose.