Alberto Giacometti

By Jack M.

Alberto Giacometti was born October 10th, 1901 in Switzerland, near the Italian border in Val Bregaglia. He was a key player in the Existentialist movement. His art is very hard to classify and many people argued about whether it was Formalist or Existentialist. He would often destroy or set-aside models and return to them years later.

Alberto associated with many other artist and even writers. In 1927 his brother Diego joined him as his assistant. Diego worked as Alberto’s assistant until he died. Alberto was drawn to surrealist movement. Alberto displayed the first surrealist sculpture later in1927. During World War 2 he lived safely in Geneva where he met Annette Arm. Later he moved to Paris where he and Annette got married. Interestingly Alberto’s most productive period follow his marriage. Annette would help him with his feminine sculptures and would sit still for hours until he got what he wanted. His brother would do the same thing for his masculine sculptures. In 1962, he was awarded the grand prize for sculpture at the Venice Biennale, and the award brought with it worldwide fame.

He later died in Switerland at the age of 65 in Switzerland.