Dimensions: object: 1562 x 419 x 314 mm
Copyright: © The Estate of Alberto Giacometti (Fondation Giacometti, Paris and ADAGP, Paris), licensed in the UK by ACS and DACS, London 2014 | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Curator: Right now we're looking at Alberto Giacometti's "Four Figurines on a Base," currently held here at the Tate Modern. It's an intriguing construction. Editor: It feels strangely desolate. Like a minimalist stage set waiting for a play that never begins. Curator: The height is striking, about 1.5 meters tall, achieved with those attenuated legs supporting both a plinth and those minuscule figures. The bronze speaks to postwar austerity. Editor: Exactly! Their delicate forms and the rough-hewn texture of the bronze create such a tangible tension. It’s haunting, almost like a memory fading. Curator: Yes, and the process reveals a tension between industrial production and the unique handmade mark. This shows his rejection of traditional sculpture. Editor: It almost mocks the idea of a monument, dwarfing those tiny figures on top. The effect is profoundly unsettling. Curator: A powerful statement, indeed, on society and alienation. Editor: Yes, one that continues to resonate even now.
Comments
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/giacometti-four-figurines-on-a-base-t00773
Join the conversation
Join millions of artists and users on Artera today and experience the ultimate creative platform.
Giacometti based this sculpture on a memory of seeing four sex workers across a room from him in Paris several years before. ‘The distance which separated us, the polished floor, seemed insurmountable in spite of my desire to cross it', the artist recalled. The small scale of the figures and the sloping sides of the sculpture’s base recreate the strange sense of distance experienced by the artist. Giacometti made several versions of this work, including a destroyed version created in the basement of the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) in 1965. Gallery label, March 2025
CollectMore like this
