Alberto Giacometti artwork and inspiration

Alberto Giacometti artwork and inspiration

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Background information

In 1901, a painter, Giacometti Giovanni gave birth to Alberto Giacometti at Borgonovo in Swiss as the first born among four other children (‘Alberto Giacometti’, nd, p. 1-2). Alberto Giacometti’s interest in arts developed as early as his childhood while under the care of his painter father. Alberto viewed the world through his father’s artistic eyes while young and it is through the parental inspiration that he began painting and drawing before his interest developed in sculptures. Characteristically, Alberto’s young age was used in queries and questions on reality, illusions and truth in human life, questions that would astonish the fairest of the world’s philosophers of the age (Trachtman, 2004, p. 1-4). After elementary art’s classes in Geneva, Alberto went for higher studies in arts in Paris where his mastery in sculpturing was gained. His love for arts led to his opening of a studio in collaboration with his brother at Paris in 1925. Plastic arts interested him equally after observing primitive people as was observed in 1925 on torso. It was between 1936 and 40 that his interest in sculptures intensified and he concentrated more on head sculptures with his sister’s gaze as a blue print. Besides plastic, Alberto used gypsum as well as marble for his works and adopts public exhibitions for his works. Through his works in painting and sculptures, Alberto earned his living and together with his brother, they invest in making designs of lamps as well as furniture under Frank Michael, an interior architect from Parisian. Nevertheless, his unique styles gained audience after the world war when he adopted bronze for his works. A characteristic feature with his works of art was his preference for long, elongated and very thin sculptures, which were seen as though they did not have weight. Skinny figures of his works representing his brothers, sisters as well as his sister are still exhibited in New York at Pierre Matisse Gallery (Schweiz, nd, para 1-5). Besides, he made images of animals from bronze with special features that represented seasons and had artistic representation of human world especially during the world war period between 1930s and 40s. He effectively represented distinction between reality as well as imaginations through his tall and emaciated images of walking men and the representations of women figures while studying. In much of his artistic works in drawings, paintings as well as in forms of sculpture, Alberto addresses the theme of existentialism where self consciousness philosophy is represented through his capacity to capture melancholy, loneliness and alienation in his works. He also had a unique way of representing ‘sex’ in reference to gender where men figures were unique from women figures (Markus, nd, p. 81-84).

Problem statement

The above introduction reveals that Alberto lived a relatively long life (between 1901-1966) but was successful in living a fulfilled live in his endeavors to further and practice art through sculptures. According to Alberto, art is a means to have a better view and this has implications of sensation recording into the eyes of the observer. He is remembered by his position that arts is best understood and enjoyed when interpreted through own visual perception as unlike what one is told. It is noted that Alberto’s interest in arts developed at childhood and his works were more of copies where he worked on notebooks, single copies as well as margins of own books or his father’s books. He specialized on a variety of collections from the African origin, European art, Indian arts, oceanic arts as well as contemporary works as those of Picasso and Mondrian. Copying according to Alberto had significance in meaning in reference to “resembling reality” as well as “vision.” He reasoned that he was prompted to copy in order to have a clear vision and understand better. His unique works of art brought him into the global perspective, he traveled wide and far and his works are exhibited across the globe in major museums and such galleries. Le Chat is among the highly treasured pieces of art by Alberto and such other works that came into being after the world war. He is remembered to have explained significance of his works in symbolism where once, he curved a cat ‘Le Chien’ that according to him was his own representation of the loneliness felt during the world war. Little is however known about the source of his inspiration into the works of arts as he specialized in his livelihood. This therefore forms the basis of this project where the intention is to understand the source of Alberto’s inspiration towards his career and specialization in sculptures.

Thesis statement

The perception of artistic work empowers an artist to overcome the cultural veil that covers one’s vision and the person is empowered to appreciate pieces of art in a more open manner as against earlier perceptions. After such an uncovering, Alberto reasons that an artist is able to appreciate the works from exterior world and then manage to represent them through own works. The works of Alberto has been studied in depth and shown to be a depiction of human finitude as have been sought by scientists and philosophers. His emaciated, slim and tall images of persons gazing emptily into the space only successfully explain the alienation and separation of humans from other forms of lives (Nasgaard, 1965, p. iii-iv). This paper therefore intends to investigate the source of inspiration upon which Alberto relied on in his engagement in sculpture arts and critically analyze some of his visual art works in reference to his artistic view.

Significance of the Study

This study has the main objective as being that of understanding the inspiration that the works of Alberto came from. However, the study involves among other aims to evaluate the contemporary artworks before as well during World War II, through which Alberto would have had immediate reference. This study will therefore add to the existing literature from other studies that have been done previously on the theme. Besides, the study would clearly outline some of the evolutionary stages through which the artwork has undergone and the contribution of Alberto’s work in the mid 20^th century. Besides, the findings of this study will be instrumental in informing readers and such researchers on the actual source of inspiration to Alberto’s works in art. Besides, future studies would have a lot to learn from the findings of the current study.

Research Questions

1. What particular personalities and historical events in the field of arts inspired Alberto in artwork?
2. What fields interested him more while producing his works of art and what effects did his works have in the field?
3. How was the field of arts prior to and during his engagements in sculpture arts?

Objectives of the study

Full appreciation of a piece of artwork requires an artistic analysis and the perception of the external world as the artist would see. It would be impossible for us to fully appreciate Alberto’s works of art before we understand him in person, understand his perception of the contemporary world as well as understand his inspiration into the field of arts. This study is therefore guided by many objectives among them being to:

1. Evaluate the life of Alberto in arts and understand his inspiration
2. Understand the development of the industry of arts as influenced by the world war as shown through his works
3. Propose possible themes of study concerning art development in the contemporary world learning from the works of Alberto during and after the world war II

Chapter 3: Methodology

This part describes the procedure that will be used during the testing of the hypothesis, collecting of data and management of data upon which this study is based. The chapter additionally explains the method that is used during data analysis and the description entailing the scope of the procedure that eventually lead to the answering of the hypothetical questions that were generated, from the review of the literature.

Unlike research methods that are used by researchers to refer to distinct techniques that are applied while carrying out a research study, research methodology describes the vast number of processes that a researcher involves while studying specific phenomena. Methodologies therefore refer to the systematic process through which a research study is carried out. Research methods are categorically part of th.............