Alberto Giacometti
Drawings and Watercolours. The Bruno Giacometti Bequest
“One must cling solely, exclusively to drawing. If one could master drawing, all the rest would be possible. Drawing is the basis of everything.” Alberto Giacometti (1901–66)
GVA Gemeinsame Verlagsauslieferung Göttingen
GmbH & Co. KG
P.O. Box 2021
37010 Göttingen
Germany
+49 551 384 200 0
info@gva-verlage.de
Alberto Giacometti’s youngest brother Bruno (1907–2012) bequeathed the Kunsthaus Zürich a collection of around one-hundred works on paper by Alberto. This well-guarded family treasure represents Alberto’s oeuvre, from his youth in Stampa (Switzerland) to his late years in Paris. It includes very early copies of works by old masters as well studies of ancient Egyptian and Roman sculptures from the 1920s. The collection also shows how Alberto closely looked at the art of Henri Matisse, Paul Cézanne and Auguste Rodin, leading to highly individual interpretations. It comprises important portraits of some of the artist’s relatives and self-portraits, alpine landscapes from his native Val Bregaglia and masterful figure studies from the 1950s and 1960s.
This small new book features for the first time a selection of these works alongside an essay on their history and significance and an illustrated catalogue of the entire collection. Its publication coincides with the display Alberto Giacometti: Drawings and Watercolours at Kunsthaus ZĂĽrich (28 February to 25 May 2014).