This title is based on one of Giacometti's famous quotes which he gave during a 1952 interview for a publication. He remarked, "The difference between the living and the dead is the gaze..." In saying this, he was referring specifically to 2 life-changing experiences when he experienced death before his eyes for the first time. He noticed that when life departs someone, it is the gaze that is first to go. This statement has become significant in that during the last decade of his life, he had focused much attention and effort into capturing this elusive gaze of his subjects and imbuing his sculptures and paintings with it. It was written that this is the ultimate gift that an artist can give to their subject - Life.
The more you fail, the more you succeed. It is only when everything is lost and - instead of giving up - you go on, that you experience the momentary prospect of some slight progress. Suddenly you have the feeling - be it an illusion or not - that something new has opened up.
Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) uttered these words shortly before his death. A giant of twentieth-century art, Giacometti stands beside Picasso and Matisse as an artist who has defined the way art is perceived and alongside them as one of the few modern artists who have created sculpture, paintings and drawings with equal mastery. Yet, Giacometti remains as the least recognized of the great artists of the twentieth-century.
His personal life has remained a subject of continuing fascination. For Giacometti, life and art embodied and expressed a persistent struggle. His was an art of construction and deconstruction: of reworking, erasing, decomposing and rebuilding.
With the recent centennial retrospective at the New York Museum of Modern Art, generations young and old today are rediscovering this great man who many considered as the truest of all artists.
Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) uttered these words shortly before his death. A giant of twentieth-century art, Giacometti stands beside Picasso and Matisse as an artist who has defined the way art is perceived and alongside them as one of the few modern artists who have created sculpture, paintings and drawings with equal mastery. Yet, Giacometti remains as the least recognized of the great artists of the twentieth-century.
His personal life has remained a subject of continuing fascination. For Giacometti, life and art embodied and expressed a persistent struggle. His was an art of construction and deconstruction: of reworking, erasing, decomposing and rebuilding.
With the recent centennial retrospective at the New York Museum of Modern Art, generations young and old today are rediscovering this great man who many considered as the truest of all artists.
It's rare when one encounters something as compelling and inspiring as the life story of Alberto Giacometti. Fortunately, unlike other famous historical figures who have had many biopics made about them, Giacometti himself has only graced the screen twice, in 2 documentaries both made in Europe near the end of his life. None have been made so far that are non-documentaries. This will hopefully be the first.
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