Grade.Lesson: 4.3There is not a print for this lesson. Please refer to book Giacometti by Ulf Küster. A ppt. with images to share with class is available on the Art Docent Website:

Original Size: 30 1/8 x 13 x 12 3/4 in.Artist: Alberto Giacometti 1901-1966 pronounced ahl-BAYR-toh jah-coh-MET-ee)Materials:

Glue guns and glue sticks Cardboard – to use as a stand to keep sculptures standing up Aluminum tin foil Pipe cleaners for arms Green Floral wire for legs Poster Putty for the feet

Biography:

Alberto Giacometti was born on October 10, 1901. His family lived in the town of Borgonova, Switzerland in the southeastern Swiss Alps. Alberto was the oldest child of Giovanni and Annetta Giacometti. Alberto had two brothers, Diego and Bruno, and one sister, Ottilia. In 1904, Alberto’s family moved to the nearby town of Stampa, where they lived the rest of their lives.

Alberto’s father, Giovanni Giacometti, was an artist. As a school boy,

Alberto was happiest when working in his father’s studio. Giovanni encouraged his son’s developing skills as an artist and his extensive library of art books provided an additional source of inspiration for Alberto. It was this inspiration that moved Alberto to create his first sculpture when he was 13 years old. It was a bust of his brother Diego.

Alberto Giacometti went to school in the town of Stampa. At the age of 14, he left home to go to boarding school. By this time, his talent as an artist was obvious. So obvious that the school allowed him to have a private studio while he was there. By the time he left the school in 1919, Alberto knew he wanted to be an artist. He studied first at the School of Fine Arts in Geneva and, then, at the School of Arts and Crafts.

Alberto had a hard time deciding if he should be a painter or a sculptor. By 1922, he had made up his mind to train as a sculptor. On his father’s advice, he moved to Paris to study with one of the best known sculptors of the time, Emile-Antoine Bourdelle.

As Alberto sculpted, he found that his figures were getting smaller and smaller. He was such a perfectionist that he was never happy with his figures so he would keep chipping away and away until he thought he got it right – then before he knew it, his sculptors would be stick thin. Figures were ending up pin sized, with pea sized heads. This was an issue for Alberto for nine years. All of his sculptures from this period fit into six matchboxes. At the end of the nine years, Alberto began making his pieces taller by making them extremely thin.

Discussion:

How do you feel when looking at Giacometti’s sculpture?

Do you feel like his work his more of an expression of how the artist feels or do you feel like he is depicting real life?

Related Art Project:

PLEASE NOTE USE GREEN FLORAL WIRE FOR LEGS INSTEAD OF PIPE CLEANERS - IT HELPS THE FIGURE STAND BETTER!!!

Once the figures are created, take a small 4 x 6 piece of cardboard and cover in tin foil. Have students write their names on the bottoms of the

cardboard “platforms”. Docents and teachers can then hot glue gun the figures to the tin foil platforms.

Additional resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Giacometti

http://www.fondation-giacometti.fr/