Alberto Giacometti

One of the key themes in Giacometti’s art concerns how the figure is anchored in space – not only in terms of its three-dimensional representation but also in the way the surrounding space is formed. The motif of the cage, which had already preoccupied the artist during his Surrealist phase, should therefore not only be regarded as a form of confinement but also as a means of defining a sculpture’s expansion into space, whereby the viewer perceives this from the outside, in other words from within a much larger space.

Similar to his sculptures, Alberto Giacometti constantly reworked his portraits – especially the faces –, giving the two-dimensional paintings a plastic expression. It seems he was concerned not so much with capturing the true character of his models; rather, by fully concentrating on the gaze, on the eye contact between the model and the artist/viewer, he gives his subjects an existential presence which far outshines conventional portraiture. Known under the name of Caroline, this lady of the Montparnasse demimonde maintained somewhat obscure relations with Giacometti. He financed her lavish lifestyle and was fascinated by her colourful, hazardous life – and it was probably precisely because of her dubious existence that she stimulated him to find the absolute concentration he needed for artistic work.

When Alberto Giacometti, already terminally ill, travelled to Chur in December 1965, where he was to die on 11 January 1966, he left behind in Paris a figure modelled in clay. To stop it drying out he had wrapped it in damp cloths. Following his death, his brother Diego made eight bronze casts of the sculpture, one of which he placed on Alberto’s grave. The photographer and cameraman Elie Lotar belonged to the demimonde milieu of Montparnasse; occasionally he turned to Alberto for financial support. What Giacometti found inspiring about Lotar was his striking bald head and his ability to sit absolutely still. The artist was apparently also fascinated by the challenge of depicting a figure of human failure in a form that is pared back to its barest, essential traits, allowing him to concentrate on the intrinsic nature of the gaze and on the tension-filled repose of sitting.