Alberto Giacometti was a Swiss artist that has an obvious connection with Italy if we take in to consideration his artistic formation. As a young student he spends some time in Rome studying the classical art and the great masters of the past before moving to Paris in 1922 where he shared his experience with the most vanguard artists of that time such as Miró, Max Ernst, Picasso, Bror Hjorth and Balthus.
In spite of his affiliation to the Surrealism movement he never forgot his inner investigation around the human figure. Obsessed with creating his sculptures exactly as he envisaged through his unique view of reality, he often carved until they were as thin as knives. Models had to spend days posing incessantly in other the make him reach the image he wanted to obtain.
Giacometti was lucky enough to be part of an artist’s family (the father, Giovanni Giacometti, was a pretty well known post-impressionist painter) and his early propensity towards a creative career was immediately encouraged by his parents, unlike what would have happened in any traditional family at the time.
Never the less he leaded a lifetime struggle with his vision and the “materia” that had to incarnate it; he once said that he was sculpting not the human figure but “the shadow that is cast”. The rupture with the surrealists movement proves his hunger for a personal and unique path.
And this insatiable need to get to the essence of the presence he was representing, stripping the subject until it seemed almost transparent, is all written on his carved face where nothing superfluous appears.
The exhibition is set in one of the most beautiful sites of Milan, the Villa Reale, and it will be open until February 1st 2015 and you can take advantage of the visit to check out the GAM (Galleria d’Arte Moderna) which offers an interesting collection of XIX century art pieces.
Alberto Giacometti
Web site: Giacometti at Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan
[socialWarfare]