Alberto Giacometti and Lynda Benglis?

 

The third and last episode of the year-long series Encounters at the Barbican Center features Lynda Benglis along Alberto Giacometti, following Huma Bahbah and Mona Hatoum. The subtitle of the exhibition, Back at Ya, the name of one of the pieces from Benglis, reveals the focus of the show: a conversation between thirty previously unseen paper sculptures from Benglis and her selection of works from Giacometti.  

The wide gallery entrance allows a scenographic view of the carefully set display with a famous plaster sculpture from Giacometti Woman with Chariot (1943-45) in the center profiled on an earthy background, a sketch from the artist's bedroom wall transferred on canvas. Benglis's sculptures are installed for a symmetrical effect, one on each side of the painting and appear to float on the two surrounding walls. The white and off white monochromatic color scheme creates an ethereal atmosphere in which figurative and abstract works from the two sculptors resonate in harmony. They both project a duality of strength and fragility: the proud hieratic model, firmly grounded to her pedestal but vulnerable in her nakedness, and the diaphanous "skin" of Benglis's sculptures anchored on a solid armature of chicken wire. 

On the other side of a partition Standing Woman (1961-62), a bronze sculpture from Giacometti in a hieratic pose but missing arms, faces a work from Benglis, a vertical white tubular relief sculpture with a red bleeding gash in the middle. Both pieces convey similar themes of beauty marred by wounds and pain. The display takes a colorful turn with polychromic sculptures like Pi (1973), one of a series of "sparkle knots", as they keep growing in size. The festive wall sculptures radiate energy through volutes, crinkles, crumples, torsions, crushes, mashes, wrappings on chicken wire like skin on bones in a gestural action sculpting and painting. Their exuberance contrasts with the gravitas of Giacometti's paintings and sculptures set like anchors for the show, Half-Length of a Man (1965) in the center of the gallery or small painted statues in a wall vitrine surrounded by Benglis's creations. Only one of them is a ceramic in the round, Acuyé (2013), a red and black dramatic piece inspired by the harsh landscapes of New Mexico. The titles of the works "Gulped Oyster", "On y va", "Big Back Ass", ..., reflect a lighthearted mood or evoke places like "Park Avenue", "Teotihucán", "Wolfeboro". Mainly from 2017-18 the unseen works housed in her studio in Santa Fe represent a snapshot of Benglis's busy practice, showcasing her continuous experimentation with various media in the course of her long career. Half a century separate the two artists born on different continents, Giacometti in Swizerland and Benglis, now 84 years old, in Lake Charles, Louisiana. The juxtaposition of their works emphasizes their common interest in expressing emotions through the representation of the human body: anxiety and loneliness for Giacometti, uninhibited joy and sensuality for Benglis. 

Thinking back, it appears that through their different styles, both artists relate to universal human experiences, rendering their works timeless.  

photographs by the author:

Lynda Benglis "Pi" (1973)

Views of the exhibition

Giacometti Forever at Tate Modern

 

At level zero in the Switch House of Tate Modern, far from the hustle and bustle of the main building, The Tanks, a gallery named after its previous use as an oil storage for the power station, deserves a visit to view a display of Giacometti's sculptures. The eleven selected works represent the artist's post WWII period and include one of his surrealist pre-war compositions.

A short passage leads to a dimly lit cavernous earthy colored space with a high ceiling. The sculptures are lined up about one meter from the rough concrete walls, enhanced by the projection of their shadows. Quatres figurines sur pédestal (1950-1965) starts the show. Due to their size, the four statuettes anchored on a thick pedestal of the same bronze set on high legs appear remote, too far for human connections. Giacometti described his torment at the sight of four prostitutes across a room as he shied away from them. About desire, gratification and repulsion, the sculpture hints at his struggle with impotence due to a bout of mumps during his adolescence. The very personal work is followed by two elongated, emaciated, naked figures, the taller androgynous (Grande figure II 1948-9) and the other female (Femme de Venise IX 1956), characteristic of his post-war style. Three busts set on pedestals next to each other emphasize another side of Giacometti's practice. Buste of Diego (1955) made from memory is about his brother, his preferred model. Buste d'Annette IV (1962), one of a series of eight, features his wife and Buste d'homme (dit Chiavenna I) (1954) is a rare bust of an unknown sitter. The horrors of the war did impact Giacometti profoundly and inspired three small sculptures of maimed females (c. 1958) with broken and missing limbs set on a stand. They also reflect the influence of Cycladic and Egyptian art with their hieratic postures, long necks and legs. In the middle of the room, Homme qui pointe (1947) casting its shadow on the floor could not find a better setting under a discreet spotlight. Of human size, skeletal but solidly anchored on  two feet and legs spread on a base, Man Pointing aims an accusing finger to the empty space on his right side. Clearly, the sculpture refers to the victims of the Second World War. It also becomes a symbol for all victims of war and implies a universal guilt. Still haunted by the last work, on the way out, I almost missed a sculpture nestled in a small rotunda. In the center, on top of a pedestal-altar, L'Heure des Traces (1932) is the only work from Giacometti's surrealist period in the exhibit: a heart in a cage and above, a walking stick-like figure crossed by a reclining stylized female shape, like a 3D drawing, floating in space, a gateway to the world of dreams and the subconscious.

The show which appears modest at first, gives a valuable insight into Giacometti's career with a sample of his works gathered in the fittingly bare industrial space. Of Swiss origin, Alberto Giacometti  (1901-1966) moved to Paris in 1922. While living in the French capital, he mingled with intellectuals and artists and, as he became close to  André Breton and his entourage, adopted surrealism and abstraction in his practice which turned back to the model and figuration around 1935. Following a lull in his creativity during the war spent in Switzerland, he became famous in the fifties and sixties with his sculptures of walking men, standing women, and portraits of family and friends. The slowdown in  productivity during the war was also marked by his miniature sculptures (as small as matches) reduced literally to bones, almost vanishing, Giacometti's way of rendering distance, alienation, loneliness. Homme qui Pointe made "in one night between midnight and nine the next morning" according to the artist, illustrates the spontaneous gesture of the sculptor who stated: "For years, I have made the sculptures that have offered themselves, already finished, to my spirit; I have limited myself to reproducing them in space, without changing anything about them, without wondering what they might signify." Shunning abstraction, conceptual art or art movements, he adopted a more philosophical outlook to his practice as upon his return to Paris, he grew a close friendship with Jean Paul Sartre, beacon of existentialism. In 1948 Sartre wrote "The Quest for the Absolute", an essay for the catalogue of Giacometti's exhibition at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York City and the author of  "Being and Nothingness" reviewed Giacometti's work... until their irreparable fall-out. In one of his insightful comments about Giacometti's sculptures he described "these moving approximations, still halfway between nothingness and being, still in the process of modification, improvement, destruction, and renewal, assumed an independent, definitive existence."

In the semi-obscurity, the bronze sculptures enhanced by their ghostly shadows are coming alive under the spotlights bathing their scarred surface. The scenographic setting allows the visitor to feel a deep connection with the works, triggering thoughts and emotions. It offers mainly a frontal view of the sculptures and the wall texts fail to provide their size, however size becomes irrelevant. The sculptures shrink and grow as we walk back and forth in front of them and experience distance and nearness. The silence adds a sepulchral aura to the space and a wish from Giacometti comes to mind: " If I were true to myself, I'd bury all my sculptures so that they wouldn't be found for a thousand years." The show could be entombed in the bowels of Tate Modern for centuries, Giacometti's rediscovered works would be as pertinent as they are today. Human condition is a universal, timeless subject. 

                                                        

photographs by the author:

- On the pedestal: "Standing woman" (c. 1958-9), "Standing woman (c.1958-9) and "Woman with Broken Shoulder" (1958-9)

- "Four Figuries on a Stand" (1950-1965), "Tall Figure II" (1948-49), "Woman of Venice IX" (1956)

-"Man Pointing" (1947)

on Art and Artists

A few days ago, I came upon a book written by the artist Raymond Mason (1922-2010) "At Work in Paris: on Art and Artists." The painter who became a sculptor was born in England and lived in France for most of his productive life.

In this book, Mason talks about artists he met, interacted with, admired ...or not. The final product is a great medley of characters from Giacometti to Balthus, along with Picasso, Duchamp, Matisse and more, also the Who's Who of the time, including art collectors, gallery owners and art critics. The book is a candid report of daily, sometimes mundane conversations, in-depth analysis of the works from artists like Rodin, Giotto, Jacques-Louis David, also here and there texts related to Mason's works, written for exhibitions catalogues.

Several chapters are dedicated to Giacometti. Mason had great respect for the artist, 20 years older, who he considered one of his masters. His writings make us also appreciate the man, modest, generous with others, detached from daily preoccupations and money, driven by his work.

The notes related to Balthus are enlightening for me, I never understood the artist. Mason states that his first meeting with Balthus changed his life and he recognized "the second pillar, with Giacometti, on which a new art of the figure and the figurative world could be built."

Dubuffet is described as heartless, Picasso cruel and superficial, Cartier-Bresson optimistic...

One day, Giacometti interrupted Mason: "You are just a mondain."

A few photographs of the works from Mason made me reflect about the writer...His work appears populist and he was trying to be understood and appreciated by all viewers, regardless of their backgrounds. The sculptor is a great critic of other artists but has little insight about his own productions. At some point he compares his works with Giotto's.

Mason was not afraid and made his opinions known, discarded Minimalism and embraced figurative art reintroducing colors to sculptures.

The book is entertaining, it starts like a biography, but very quickly becomes a succession of sometimes disconnected short chapters. The author knows how to sprinkle some humour and makes us reflect about art.

"La Foule Illuminee" Andre Mason http://www.flickr.com/photos/martin_uj/4148846302/sizes/m/in/photostream/

"Girl at a Window" Balthus http://www.flickr.com/photos/hisgett/4682322838/

"Walking Man II" Alberto Giacometti http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

"The Departure of Fruit and Vegetables from the Heart of Paris, 28 February 1969" (1969-1971) Andre Mason