Bust of Annette IX c. 1964 - 1966

Alberto Giacometti made this bronze bust of his wife, Annette, and in it you can almost see him pinching and prodding the clay, building the form up from nothing. Look at the surface, that incredible texture! It’s all bumps and scrapes, the marks of the sculptor’s hands, almost like he’s trying to wrestle the image out of the material. You can see it in the neck, how the light catches on those ridges, it’s a real record of the process. Giacometti was interested in the way we perceive each other, and that roughness, that lack of finish, it's not a bug, it's a feature! It’s like he’s saying, “Hey, seeing is hard work. It’s never clean or simple.” It’s like a conversation with Rodin, maybe, but grittier, more human. Art isn’t about answers, it’s about the questions we ask.