An Exhibition in Memory of Eberhard W. Kornfeld (1923-2023)

The Art Museum Graubünden devotes Alberto Giacometti an exhibition, which focuses entirely on his early years and his artistic development. The exhibition wants to show what inspired the young artist during his development, how closely he worked together with his father Giovanni Giacometti and how he gradually freed himself from him, but also how he drew and painted his personal surroundings: in his family, in Stampa, during his schooldays in Schiers and in Geneva. Most notably during this time is also his intensive inquiry into the works of art history. Alberto Giacometti becomes aware of his role as an artist. He already makes this clear with his impressive self-portraits as early as 1916 when he is only 15 years old. This is also evident in the portraits of the young artist painted by Giovanni Giacometti. Already at an early age Alberto Giacometti creates his first sculptures that show him the path he will take. The exhibition begins with the works by the 12 year old and continues up until his first years in Paris when Alberto Giacometti occupied himself with cubist pictorial worlds and realised his first exhibitions.

While up until now the early work was always regarded in connection with Alberto Giacometti’s later development, and his young talent was emphasised, the focus of this exhibition is for the first time entirely on his early work and is examined in its surprising range and diverse aspects.

The exhibition is curated by Stephan Kunz and Paul Müller. It was developed in close cooperation with the Art Museum Zürich and the Giacometti Foundation. Accompanying the exhibition is a comprehensive catalogue book with texts by Philippe Büttner, Casimiro di Crescenzo, Christian Klemm, Stephan Kunz and Paul Müller.

 

Foto: Alberto Giacometti vor dem Haus von Antonio und Evelina Giacometti in Rom, Juni 2021, Archiv: Familie Berthoud