Editing Alberto Giacometti (section)

== Career ==
[[File:Alberto Giacometti (1901 - 1966), peintre et sculpteur, CP1335.jpg|thumb|upright 1.5|Giacometti at work.]]
In 1922, he moved to Paris to study under the sculptor [[Antoine Bourdelle]], an associate of [[Auguste Rodin|Rodin]]. It was there that Giacometti experimented with [[Cubism]] and [[Surrealism]] and came to be regarded as one of the leading Surrealist sculptors. Among his associates were [[Joan Miró|Miró]], [[Max Ernst]], [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso]], [[Bror Hjorth]], and [[Balthus]].

Between 1936 and 1940, Giacometti concentrated his sculpting on the human head, focusing on the sitter's gaze. He preferred models he was close to—his sister and the artist [[Isabel Rawsthorne]] (then known as Isabel Delmer).<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.francis-bacon.com/outofthecage| title = Jacobi, Carol. ''Out of the Cage: The Art of Isabel Rawsthorne'', London: The Estate of Francis Bacon Publishing, Feb 2021}}</ref> This was followed by a phase in which his statues of Isabel became stretched out; her limbs elongated.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/20/arts/design/20kino.html?pagewanted=all|title=Real Women Have Curves – The New York Times|newspaper=The New York Times|date=20 November 2005|access-date=16 September 2019|last1=Kino|first1=Carol}}</ref>

Obsessed with creating his sculptures exactly as he envisioned through his unique view of reality, he often carved until they were as thin as nails and reduced to the size of a pack of cigarettes, much to his consternation. A friend of his once said that if Giacometti decided to sculpt you, "he would make your head look like the blade of a knife".
[[File:Alberto Giacometti, par sa femme Annette © Succession Alberto Giacometti (Fondation Giacometti, Paris + ADAGP, Paris) 2019.jpg|thumb|upright 1.4|Giacometti sculpting his wife Annette]]
During World War II, Giacometti took refuge in Switzerland. There, in 1946, he met Annette Arm, a secretary for the [[Red Cross]]. They married in 1949.<ref name="annette">{{Cite web|url=http://www.fondation-giacometti.fr/en/article/303/tribute-to-annette-giacometti|title=Fondation Giacometti – TRIBUTE TO ANNETTE GIACOMETTI|first=Fondation|last=Giacometti|website=www.fondation-giacometti.fr|access-date=16 September 2019}}</ref>

After his marriage his tiny sculptures became larger, but the larger they grew, the thinner they became. For the remainder of Giacometti's life, Annette was his main female model.<ref name="annette" /> His paintings underwent a parallel procedure. The figures appear isolated and severely attenuated, as the result of continuous reworking.

He frequently revisited his subjects: one of his favourite models was his younger brother Diego, with whom he shared his studio in Paris.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Amadour |date=23 May 2023 |title=Designer Ingrid Donat Opens Her Art-Filled Home in Paris |url=https://galeriemagazine.com/designer-ingrid-donat-opens-art-filled-home-le-marais/ |access-date=31 December 2023 |website=Galerie |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |title='Seated Man', Alberto Giacometti, 1949 |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/giacometti-seated-man-n05909 |access-date=2024-07-04 |website=Tate |language=en-GB}}</ref>