PASSIONATE ARTISTS

I really am undecided how I felt about the Picasso/Giacometti exhibition. The one very special point was my friend from Finland was here for a few days and she wanted to visit the new museum. Renovated would perhaps be a better word.




Picasso was younger than Giacometti - in fact 20 years younger. I don’t know if they were close during the years that they saw one another. For that matter, no-one seems to know too much about their relationship. We do know that they discussed their work in the context of post war arguments around the return to realism. There has been new research done but somehow I don’t find it very satisfactory.




Their sculpture was shown together - but it didn’t seem to have much relationship even if we did see much more of both the artists’ work
Giacometti Grande Femme - 1958
Picasso : La Femme Enceinte: deuxième état. 1950-1959


Giacometti :Tête de la mère - around 1925
Giacometti : Tête du père - 1927-30
Giacometti : Femme cuillère - 1927
Giacometti : Stèle 195-27
Giacometti : Homme - 1929: Picasso Figure 1928

The living and the dead was certainly a theme and I gather it was part of their regular discussions. 

Just as Eros (love) and Thanatos (death) were recurring subjects.
Giacometti "Braque sur son lit de mort" 1963

Picasso "Tête de mort" 1943

  Some of their sketches were really quite lovely:



Picasso : Tête de Femme - 1902-03
Giacometti : Tête de Bruno

Picasso : Etudes: flacon, boîte et pomme: 1909
Picasso : "Etudes pour la Fermière" -1908

 Not to mention that Giacometti's paintings were totally unknown to me:
Giacometti : Autoportrait : 1921
Giacometti : Diego debout dans le salon à Stampa
Giacometti : Nature morte aux pommes - around 1915

 I am greatly attracted to Giacometti’s filiformes. They always seem to be running somewhere and I feel as if it may be a little difficult to keep up with their pace. It’s a form of expression  which can only be his and yet so many artists have tried to «copy » his sculptures. However, as we all know them so well, I decided against photos, trying to see sculptures which I did not know or did not know well...
Giacometti : Grande Femme assise - 1958
Giacometti : Femme égorgée - 1933
Giacometti : Composition 1927-28
Giacometti : Nu debout sur socle cubique - 1953
Giacometti : Grande tête : 1958
Giacometti : Objet désagréable : 1931
Giacometti : Boule suspendue : 1930-31
Giacometti "Fleur en danger" 1932
Picasso : Le Taureau - 1946

Then suddenly you come across this:



Giacometti’s famous dog (1951) chose the slender silhouette of the Afghan Hound that belonged to his friend Picasso. In this picture, you will see the famous dog behind those other wonderful animals!
(The dog in the background) Picasso : La Chèvre - 1950
Picasso  :"Chat" 1943
Giacometti : Tête de Cheval - 1951




Man Ray : PIcasso avec son lèvrier afghan - 1937
I took an interest in Giacometti's women...
Giacometti : Buste d'Annette lX - 1964
Giacometti : Buste d'Annette X - 1964
I am sure there are similarities in their work and that they were very close friends. Apparently in Paris they met often. Sketching one another’s work but even if they were alike in many ways, they still remained excessively independent in their styles - admiring each other’s  work. I’m sure the discussions were « passionately interesting ».

 To finish. Two strange but beautiful pieces from Picasso.
Visage aux deux profils . 1930
Figure : 1935

Commentaires

Michael Keane a dit…
Ce commentaire a été supprimé par l'auteur.
11/1/17 22:45
Michael Keane a dit…
To put it another way: Picasso is thick and Giacometti is thin. When I was a small boy, I was always intrigued by a Giacometti print of a woman hanging in the hallway of our house in Melbourne. I couldn't work out whether her long thin neck and head were real or an accident by the painter. In either case, I felt sorry for the woman!
11/1/17 22:46
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