- Paperback: 117 pages
- Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux (Jun 1980)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0374515735
- ISBN-13: 978-0374515737
- Product Dimensions: 21 x 13.1 x 0.9 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 386,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
I bought this book hoping it would give me an insight into how Giacometti worked when painting, it gave me that and much more.
The book covers an 18 day period when James Lord(the author) sat for a portrait with Giacometti, Lord kept a surreptitious diary during the sitting as well as took photographs of the painting in various stages of completion. Lord has produced a book that anyone interested in art and the process of creating should read, we get a glimpse into the mindset of one of the greats of art. Giacometti doubts himself and his skills constantly during the sitting and was never satisfied with what he produced, the most positive thing he says in the book is that "there's an opening" or that "tomorrow will be better". It may initially seem pessimistic but I found the book to be hugely uplifting, as someone who is self taught in painting knowing that a man as talented as Giacometti doubted his ability to capture the world as he saw it gave me hope and a comforting sense that I'm not alone in the struggle to produce work of worth. The photographs in the book are very poor but Lord admits that he's not a photographer, although I think part of the problem is in the printing of the book and paper used, however it doesn't detract from the quality of the text.
Lords biography on Giacometti is worth a look too if you want to know more about Giacometti's life and Yves Bonnefoy's coffee table sized book is the best collection of photographs of Giacometti's work(although finding a reasonably priced copy is difficult).
The book covers an 18 day period when James Lord(the author) sat for a portrait with Giacometti, Lord kept a surreptitious diary during the sitting as well as took photographs of the painting in various stages of completion. Lord has produced a book that anyone interested in art and the process of creating should read, we get a glimpse into the mindset of one of the greats of art. Giacometti doubts himself and his skills constantly during the sitting and was never satisfied with what he produced, the most positive thing he says in the book is that "there's an opening" or that "tomorrow will be better". It may initially seem pessimistic but I found the book to be hugely uplifting, as someone who is self taught in painting knowing that a man as talented as Giacometti doubted his ability to capture the world as he saw it gave me hope and a comforting sense that I'm not alone in the struggle to produce work of worth. The photographs in the book are very poor but Lord admits that he's not a photographer, although I think part of the problem is in the printing of the book and paper used, however it doesn't detract from the quality of the text.
Lords biography on Giacometti is worth a look too if you want to know more about Giacometti's life and Yves Bonnefoy's coffee table sized book is the best collection of photographs of Giacometti's work(although finding a reasonably priced copy is difficult).
Format:Paperback
a fascinating book that recounts the experience of one individual who sat for a portrait by giacometti.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
10 reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
TO SEE VERY MUCH
5 Aug 2001
Format:Paperback
Anyone who has ever wondered how a truly great artist gets his inspiration, works on a daily basis and incorporates his philosophies of life into his work will want to read this terrific story of how a young, American writer sat for his portrait by the legendary Alberto Giacometti.
Almost non-stop upon their meeting, Giacometti opens up and begins letting his thoughts come tumbling out of his mouth. He tells his subject that he looks like "a thug...if I could paint you as I see you and a policeman saw the picture he'd arrest you immediately!" And then, "Don't laugh. I'm not supposed to make my models laugh." He tells the author of his trip to London's National Gallery where he says, "...I deliberately didn't look at the Rembrandts, because if I had looked at them I wouldn't have been able to look at anything else afterward." Later on in his work, "It's impossible to paint a portrait...the photograph exists and that's all there is to it."
Giacometti was not only one of the greatest artists of the last century he was also, obviously, a wonderful, contradictory, clever, intelligent, verbal, loving, open, warm companion. When the painting is not going well, the artist exclaims, "If only Cezanne were here, he would set everything right with two brush strokes." Lord gently corrects him pointing out that Cezanne had plenty of trouble. And then Giacometti (probably with a hint of happiness) agrees, "Even he had trouble."
One comes to know these two men so well in this small, beautifully written memoir that one feels close to them and to their emotional upset when after only eighteen days, they part ways. The author reminds us that Giacometti would be the first to remark that a portrait could only achieve a "semblence of reality." He hopes that the artist will enjoy this written portrait. As Lord writes, "To see even so little will be to see very much." True.
Included in the paperback are snapshots taken to show Lord's portrait in progress. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
25 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Absolutley Fabulous!
8 Dec 1998
Format:Paperback
This book is a must, for fans of Giacometti's work and for artists world wide. It gives one the opportunity to be in the studio with a great artist. It is wonderfull but terrible at the same time, as an artist, I came away from the book feeling completely insignificant untalented and without hope, however this is a good thing, it is an experience all artists must, and do go through. Please read the book you will learn so much!
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
It was all in the facial expression with Giacometti-transfixed....
31 Aug 2007
Format:Paperback
I always know when I am confronted with a portrait by Giacometti. The manner in which he presents his work is completely different to that of any other artist. Giacometti was haunted by a desire to understand what it meant to be alive. His own life he could dismiss, but faced with another, the mystery of his alien being-how it filled up space, how it battled with the hostile elements of its existence-seemed to Giacometti infinitely mysterious and marvelous. It was, above all, the head that perpetually challenged him, and more specifically the gaze-the look that another person exchanges with us, which Giacometti saw as both unfolding the mystery of that personality and yet, perpetually concealing it.
The portrait of "Jean Genet" is beautiful. Giacometti had known Genet for a year when he painted "Genet" oil on canvas. It is an impressive picture. It was Genet's appearance that had first drawn Giacometti to him, especially the shape of his head, so bald, so round-a skull in which the whole mystery of personality resided. He avoids the allure of colour; instead the picture is brown and white, with just the faint streaks of earth red to enliven it. Yet never is it more clear that a human being is a creature of majesty.
When Giacometti used his wife as a subject of painting you can see through the art he was striving to come to terms with this person who, in theory, was the closest to him. The piece of work, "ANNETTE" It is almost as though he has scratched her portrait out of a world of white into which she would otherwise disappear. There are black markings that claw her back. She seems as riveted and horrified by the experience of encountering her husband's gaze as he is by hers. Those great eyes of hers glare at the world without emotion, the lips are pursed, and, although the body is sketchy, there is an uncanny sense of presence. He has cought her, as if in a momentary flash of light, and there she will stand transfixed forever.
The portrait of "Jean Genet" is beautiful. Giacometti had known Genet for a year when he painted "Genet" oil on canvas. It is an impressive picture. It was Genet's appearance that had first drawn Giacometti to him, especially the shape of his head, so bald, so round-a skull in which the whole mystery of personality resided. He avoids the allure of colour; instead the picture is brown and white, with just the faint streaks of earth red to enliven it. Yet never is it more clear that a human being is a creature of majesty.
When Giacometti used his wife as a subject of painting you can see through the art he was striving to come to terms with this person who, in theory, was the closest to him. The piece of work, "ANNETTE" It is almost as though he has scratched her portrait out of a world of white into which she would otherwise disappear. There are black markings that claw her back. She seems as riveted and horrified by the experience of encountering her husband's gaze as he is by hers. Those great eyes of hers glare at the world without emotion, the lips are pursed, and, although the body is sketchy, there is an uncanny sense of presence. He has cought her, as if in a momentary flash of light, and there she will stand transfixed forever.
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