Category Archives: Swiss Art

Two at Tate Modern

I am most grateful to John Kirkwood for visiting and writing about these two exhibitions on my behalf.

 

Wolfgang Tillmans 2017, Tate Modern, Level 3, Boiler House & Tanks Studio, until 11th June 2017

Wolfgang Tillmans
Collum 2011
© Wolfgang Tillmans

Wolfgang Tillmans (1968 – ) is one of the most exciting and innovative artists working today and this exhibition concentrates on his production across different media since 2003.

As well as some startling photography including landscapes, portraiture and still lives there is even a Playback Room where you may sit and enjoy music and another room where you can view the video installation Instrument 2015 which shows Tillmans dancing to a soundtrack made by manipulating the sound of his own footsteps, while in the Tanks Studio his slide projection Book for Architects 2014 is being shown for the first time in the UK.

Wolfgang Tillmans
Iguazu 2010
© Wolfgang Tillmans

A disparate and interesting show but a word of warning – don’t take your maiden aunt to see it!

 

 

Alberto Giacometti, Tate Modern, Eyal Ofer Galleries, until 10th September 2017

Alberto Giacometti
Woman of Venice V
1956
Painted plaster
113.5 x 14.5 x 31.8 cm
Collection Fondation Alberto et Annette Giacometti, Paris
© Alberto Giacometti Estate, ACS/DACS, 2017


This is the first retrospective of Giacometti (1901 – 1966) for twenty years and takes us on a journey from his early more conventional works to his renowned elongated figures.  In the first room you are confronted by a very large group of conventionally sculpted faces staring at you which gently leads you on to the more recognisable Giacometti style.

It brings together over 250 works and includes plasters and drawings and a large number of these fragile plaster works which rarely travel are being shown for the first time in this exhibition including Giacometti’s celebrated Women of Venice 1956. Created for the Venice Biennale, this group of important works are brought together for the first time since their creation.

Alberto Giacometti
Woman with her Throat Cut
1932
Bronze (cast 1949)
22 x 75 x 58 cm
National Galleries of Scotland
© Alberto Giacometti Estate, ACS/DACS, 2017

This exhibition reasserts Giacometti’s place alongside the likes of Matisse, Picasso and Degas as one of the great painter-sculptors of the 20th century and the exhibition is a great celebration of a unique vision.

 

 

 

http://www.tate.org.uk

The Giacometti of Hubert de Givenchy

The Giacometti of Hubert de Givenchy, Christie’s Paris, 9 avenue Matignon, 75008 Paris, 6th March 2017

Hubert de Givenchy’s Manor at Le Jonchet ©Christie’s Images, Ltd, 2017

Hubert de Givenchy’s Manor at Le Jonchet
©Christie’s Images, Ltd, 2017

There are twenty-one pieces in this sale and they will be displayed in the week-long viewing prior to the sale in a manner that recalls the 1986 Diego Giacometti exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. A couple of the pieces are decorated with deer symbols which reflect that Hubert de Givenchy was named after the Patron Saint of hunters Saint-Hubert.

Diego Giacometti 1902-1985 Grande table console aux cerfs Bronze à patine vert antique et chêne cérusé / patinated bronze and cerused oak H 85 x L 230 x P 70 cm / 33½ x 90½ x 27½ in Estimation : €400.000-600.000

Diego Giacometti 1902-1985
Grande table console aux cerfs
Bronze à patine vert antique et chêne cérusé /
patinated bronze and cerused oak
H 85 x L 230 x P 70 cm / 33½ x 90½ x 27½ in
Estimation : €400.000-600.000

I think it is only right to let the iconic designer sum this important sale up: “It is thanks to Gustav Zumsteg, an important fabric creator in Zurich, whose company was called Abraham, that I met Diego Giacometti. During one of my visits to Zurich, he offered me a gueridon made by Diego for the Kronenhalle, the famous restaurant owned by his family. Fascinated by its pure aesthetic, I asked him if it was possible to meet the artist and he introduced him to me shortly afterwards. The relationship I had with Diego for nearly 20 years turned quickly into friendship. He was a very kind man, simple, welcoming, discreet, and a talented craftsman. He started to create some pieces for my first house at Jouy at the end of 1960, and then for the manor of Le Jonchet at the beginning of the 1970’s. With this sale, I want to pay a further tribute to him, an additional recognition which he does not need, but which shows how important he was to me.”

Hubert de Givenchy’s Manor at Le Jonchet ©Christie’s Images, Ltd, 2017

Hubert de Givenchy’s Manor at Le Jonchet
©Christie’s Images, Ltd, 2017

 

Hubert de Givenchy’s Manor at Le Jonchet ©Christie’s Images, Ltd, 2017

Hubert de Givenchy’s Manor at Le Jonchet
©Christie’s Images, Ltd, 2017

 

Hubert de Givenchy’s Manor at Le Jonchet ©Christie’s Images, Ltd, 2017

Hubert de Givenchy’s Manor at Le Jonchet
©Christie’s Images, Ltd, 2017

 

 

 

 

www.christies.com