Wright Auction

In 1940, Giacometti fled the Nazi invasion of Paris to Geneva, where his focus shifted toward the human body and realism, exploring themes of isolation and the formal qualities of space. Giacometti returned to Paris in 1946 and his work rose to prominence after two shows at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York City in 1948 and 1950, the latter of which was accompanied by an essay from Jean-Paul Sartre, aligning Giacometti’s work with Existentialism.

Throughout the 1950s, while many major artists were working in abstraction, Giacometti used his sculptures to explore the highly individualistic worldview that was emerging out of the trauma of World War II; his narrow, elongated, monumental figures turn in on themselves, wrought with anxiety and alienation. The art critic Francis Ponge wrote of his work in 1951 in Cahiers d'Art: "Man - and man alone - reduced to a thread - in the dilapidation and misery of the world - who searches for himself - starting from nothing... Man on a pavement like burning iron; who cannot lift his heavy feet."

The immense humanity present in Giacometti’s work, along with his masterly, philosophical exploration of form, space and weight, made him a leading voice in the postwar artistic landscape. His legacy is one of an artist searching deeply, humbly for meaning in humankind’s existence, exploring how we communicate and relate and asking, ultimately, whether we are able to overcome our innate humanness. Giacometti passed away in Chur, Switzerland in 1966, leaving an enduring and poignant body of work.

“I paint and sculpt to get a grip on reality... to protect myself.”