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120115: Leopold Museum: Alberto Giacometti – Pioneer of the Moderne / Art Deco
Leopold Museum: Alberto Giacometti – Pioneer of the Moderne / Art Deco
17.10.2014 – 26.01.2015
In the flow
By Nina Schedlmayer
Seldom has one seen this room so empty: for its Giacometti exhibition, the Leopold Museum thoroughly cleared out the first room of its underground exhibition rooms – to fill it with only five sculptures and some photographs by the Swiss sculptor. The towering, stylized figures, here partially in well-nigh monumental versions, the trademark of Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966), were developed late in his career as shown in the outstandingly curated exhibition by Franz Smola and Philippe Büttner – which one could also have called "Giacometti and his contemporaries", as it is full of cross-references to them. For instance, his early cubistic sculptures in which geometric forms permeate one another – and which are complemented here by other artists' works, such as Jacques Lipchitz, Henri Laurens, Pablo Picasso, which were created at the same time.
Surrealism also left its mark in Giacometti’s works: his abstract reliefs are very similar to Max Ernst's plastics. The emergence of his elongated figures, which he developed out of an artistic crisis, comes to the fore further on in the exhibition. Giacometti once explained that he sculpts women exclusively standing still, men, on the other hand, only in movement – a philosophy which doesn't exactly designate him as being enlightened regarding gender issues on the other hand, his many male "pacers" don't have really much leeway as they do appear firmly anchored on the plinth. The penultimate room in the exhibition does not turn out to be so instructive; proof of Giacometti's influence on the ensuing generations should be demonstrated – however, the examples are not so directly chosen that the references would be comprehensible.
Nevertheless: the break with the normally monolithic presentation of artists in their individual exhibitions is proven to be exceedingly productive: the result is a more multifaceted view of the oeuvre of an artist who is still truly perceived as one-dimensional. Furthermore, some knowledge about the historic avantgarde – or at least a few of its relevant streams – is also mediated.
Leopold Museum
1070 Vienna, Museumsquartier
Tel: +43 1 525 70-0
Fax: +43 1 525 70-1500
email: leopoldmuseum@leopoldmuseum.org
http://www.leopoldmuseum.org
Opening hours: Wed - Mo 11 - 19, Fri 11 - 21
Mehr Texte von translated and summarized by: Liz Wollner-Grandville
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120115
Leopold Museum
1070 Wien, Museumsquartier
Tel: +43 1 525 70-0, Fax: +43 1 525 70-1500
Email: leopoldmuseum@leopoldmuseum.org
http://www.leopoldmuseum.org
Öffnungszeiten: Mi-So 10-18 h
Leopold Museum
1070 Wien, Museumsquartier
Tel: +43 1 525 70-0, Fax: +43 1 525 70-1500
Email: leopoldmuseum@leopoldmuseum.org
http://www.leopoldmuseum.org
Öffnungszeiten: Mi-So 10-18 h
