Regular readers will know that I’m a fan of Alberto Giacometti so I was delighted to come upon a small exhibition of his sculptures in The Tanks at Tate Modern.
The figures are post Second World War, communicating a feeling of frailty and isolation in what we recognise as his signature style. He apparently tried making fuller figures but they didn’t feel real to him till he stripped them right back.
These three pieces, each with parts missing, were made in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
The lighting and fall of shadows is an important part of the experience for me, particularly in this setting where the space around forms part of the sculpture itself.
In Man Pointing, from 1947, the shadow of his head reaches just beyond the boundary line that we are not permitted to cross. Is he beckoning us to approach and what he is pointing at?
See how one of the shadows changes the direction of his bent wrist.
This Surrealist assemblage is from the 1930s when Giacometti said that he recreated images that were “complete in my mind’s eye…without stopping to ask myself what they might mean.”
The display is free to visit and on till 17th May.