Talk:Alberto Giacometti

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As an art student from the international baccalaureaute course, I have done a long arduous exploration into Giacometti's work. According to some biographies on the www, he had abandoned the surrealist label because he rebelled agaisnt some of its principles. I could be wrong but it is something that may be relevant to the completeness of the article. In an art review by Hilton Krammer he clearly explains that Giacometti decided to leave the surreslists, in fact the name of the review is "No Labels Fit Giacometti".

Angelo Santos Jr.

[edit] section 1, "artistic analysis", needs revision

I guess I could edit the article myself, but I've never done that and am not certain I could improve it myself. However, I am pretty confident citing a few problems with the first section of this Giacometti article, "Artistic Analysis".

Although the author(s) do not directly associate Giacometti with the painter Francis Bacon, there is a vague association suggested by this description. I am tempted to dispute the root assertion leading to this, which is that Giacometti's work is having to do with "blocs of sensation", but I can see how that might be useful to some people in categorizing him. However, it is quite out of place to include any comparison to Francis Bacon in the FIRST PARAGRAPH OF A GIACOMETTI ARTICLE. Francis Bacon was somewhat of an "effect" painter, his paintings verging on illustration, while giacometti's project was much more rigorous (and humble). While giacometti's pictures might be interesting images, this is more a biproduct of his process of looking and attempting to convey space. Giacometti's pictures are almost always worked and reworked and to see one is almost to look at an artifact, full of evidence. Bacon on the other hand is quite obviously an image painter.

There are more appropriate words to use besides "imitation" also. The word imitation and the context here is somewhat misleading, as it seems to conjure up the judgemental debate that painting from life is "passe" or regressive, and that painting "abstractly" or (not painting at all) is more relevant. Imitation is not a word typically used in this way to describe paintings or sculptures. If it is intended to evoke this debate, it would be more...honest(?)..to just openly mention that: unlike his contemporaries, giacometti is a revered modern painter who has avoided both abstraction and image-painting, in an almost medieval manner.

The book "A Giacometti Portrait" by James Lord deserves mention also, as it is an eloquent and intimate (and concise) account of Giacometti's processes. The book is recommended by many drawing teachers.

-J.D. jddellnger@aol.com

[edit] BS section

Come on..if there isn't more under "legacy" shouldn't it just be eliminated (fullerton 03:45, 19 May 2006 (UTC))

[edit] What?

"He looks like a cross between Ali G creation Borat and Professor Robert Winston". Does he really? 80.47.250.124 14:47, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

• Perhaps we need a photograph on the main page. Meanwhile, maybe just remove that comment? -Wunderbear
  • Here's a picture: Giacometti

Well, I wouldn't say that he does look like him there. But I have seen a couple of his self-portraits and I can get the reference. But it's probably not suitable for an encyclopedia, at least not in it's present state. -Wunderbear