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Clip & save art notes. ABOUT THE ARTIST Alberto Giacometti was one of the seminal sculptors of the 20thcentury. Born in 1901 in an Italian-speaking region of Switzerland,Giacometti took his place as the eldest child in a family of creators:his father and uncle were both painters who taught him techniques andintroduced him the current stylistic trends of the period, includingImpressionism impressionism, in paintingimpressionism,in painting, late-19th-century French school that was generally characterized by the attempt to depict transitory visual impressions, often painted directly from nature, and by the use of pure, broken color to , Post-Impressionism and Cubism. Giacometti once said, "As a child, what I most wanted to dowas illustrate stories. The first drawing I remember was an illustrationto a fairytale: Snow White in a tiny coffin, and the dwarfs." Also,"I thought I could copy absolutely anything, and that I understoodit better than anybody else." (Source: www.artchive.com excerptedfrom Edward Lucie-Smith, Lives of the Great 20th Century Artists, Thames& Hudson, 1999.) According to a biography of the artist from Rai International:"In 1916, during high school, he displayed total mastery ofImpressionist language in a portrait of his mother modeled withplastilina." (Source: www.italica, rai.it.) Drawing would remain animportant aspect of his life and working method: "I've beenfifty thousand times to the Louvre Louvre(l`vrə), foremost French museum of art, located in Paris. The building was a royal fortress and palace built by Philip II in the late 12th cent. . I have copied everything in drawing,trying to understand." After high school, he attended the School of Fine Arts Puerto Rico's School of Fine Arts is a college-level institution of higher learning, located in Old San Juan which offers studies in graphic arts and other humane studies.Dr. in Geneva Geneva, canton and city, SwitzerlandGeneva(jənē`və), Fr. Genève, canton (1990 pop. 373,019), 109 sq mi (282 sq km), SW Switzerland, surrounding the southwest tip of the Lake of Geneva. ,and in 1920 took a trip to Italy where he became engrossed in the workof Italian masters Giotto (c. 1267-1337) and Tintoretto (1518-1594). OfGiotto's fresco cycle in Padua's Arena Chapel, Giacomettiremarked, "The frescoes of Giotto gave me a crushing blow to thechest. I was suddenly aimless and lost." (Source:www.artchive.com.) In 1922 he traveled to Paris to continue his studieswith sculptor Antoine Bourdelle. It was during this sojourn that heflirted with Cubism. In 1925 he was joined by his brother Diego, a furniture designerand craftsman, who would become Alberto's lifelong assistant. In1927 he came in contact with other Swiss artists who were part of theSurrealist movement, and he began making sculptures that reflected theSurrealist's preoccupation with dreams and the subconscious mind,such as this month's selection, The Palace at 4 a.m. (1932). Thesesculptures brought him quick renown, and he began to move in circleswith other avant-garde artists of the time, including Jean Arp(1887-1966), Max Ernst (1891-1976), Joan Miro (1893-1983) and PabloPicasso (1881-1973), each of whom were applying the tenets of Surrealismin their own art. At his first one-man show in 1932, he exhibited his collection ofSurrealist sculptures and objects, many of which were influenced byAfrican and primitive art forms. Shortly thereafter, he broke from theSurrealists and began creating representational figures based on hisbrother Diego's face. Returning to the model was clearly out ofstep with the times, and this move didn't curry favor with hiscontemporaries. Around this time he met and established a friendship with thewriter/philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980), whose existentialist ex��is��ten��tial��ism?n.A philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the writings would influence and inform Giacometti for the rest of his life.During WWII WWIIabbr.World War IIWWIIWorld War Two he lived in Switzerland, making furniture with Diego, andcreating tiny figures that fit into the space of a matchbox. Upon hisreturn to Paris, he began producing the sculptures for which he is mostknown: tall, elongated human figures that appear to be striding throughspace. Although less known, Giacometti was also a painter, and hismonochromatic works, often done in tones of gray and featuring a singlehuman figure, are stripped down of detail and haunting in theirspareness. In 1962, he received the prize for sculpture at the VeniceBiennale and, in 1965, traveled to New York City New York City:see New York, city. New York CityCity (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. for a retrospective ofhis work at the Museum of Modern Art. He died of heart disease andbronchitis in 1966, and is buried near his parents in Switzerland. ABOUT THE ARTWORK "Once the object has been constructed, I have a tendency todiscover in it, transformed and displaced, images, impressions, factswhich have deeply moved me." This quote, spoken by Swiss sculptorand painter Alberto Giacometti, could surely apply to this month'sClip & Save Art Print selection, The Palace at 4 a.m. Constructed during the artist's eight-year association withthe Surrealists (1927-35), the work evokes dreams and the subconsciousinner workings of the mind. Set at 4 a.m., a time that hovers betweendeepest night and dawn, the structure--like dreams--appears ethereal,mysterious, haunting; a precariously built house of juxtaposed objectscharged with emotion. It is "Haunting and haunted, for the palaceis lived in: isolate forms and figures inhabit its spaces. The enigma oftheir connection charges the air that is the sculpture's principalmedium." (Source: Publication excerpt, MoMA Highlights, The Museumof Modern Art, revised 2004, originally published 1999, p. 153.) Constructed of wood, glass, wire and string, the sculpture has asketch-like quality. The gallery text that accompanies this work of artat the Musuem of Modern Art in New York City reads, "This work withits spindly spin��dly?adj. spin��dli��er, spin��dli��estSlender and elongated, especially in a way that suggests weakness.spindlyAdjective[-dlier, -dliest wood scaffolding, sheet of glass, and delicate skeletons isa vertical, immaterial drawing in space." Art historians have long tried to assign meaning to the objectsliving in this structure: the bird skeleton, the form of a woman, thespinal column and the phallic phallic/phal��lic/ (-ik) pertaining to or resembling a phallus. phal��licadj.1. Of, relating to, or resembling a phallus.2. form occupying the center of the space.Perhaps the closest we will ever come to having any clear understandingof this enigmatic work will be found in the words of its maker, who"did relate The Palace at 4 a.m. to a period he had spent with awoman who enchanted en��chant?tr.v. en��chant��ed, en��chant��ing, en��chants1. To cast a spell over; bewitch.2. To attract and delight; entrance. See Synonyms at charm. him, and with whom he had built a 'fantasticpalace at night ... a very fragile palace of matchsticks.' He didnot know why he had included the spinal column or the skeletal bird,though he associated both with her. As for 'the red object in frontof the board; I identify it with myself.'" (Source: MoMA Highlights.) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]