Page 56 - Studio International - September 1965

The walking men, the waiting women

London Commentary by G. S. Whittet

The essence of sculpture is its monumentality. In the
usual connotation this is read as massiveness yet, as the
recent superlative exhibition at the Musee de !'Homme
in Paris has shown, the monumentality is not necessarily
based on scale so much as on proportion. The works of
Alberto Giacometti in almost 200 examples of sculpture.
paintings, and drawings in the exhibition organised by
the Arts Council at the Tate Gallery create in the
major pieces this monumentality by measure of their
own internal proportions. That these internal pro­
portions are unique is demonstrated forcibly when. in
a group work such as The Glade. the assembly is the
1 artist's own as compared with the display grouping
Giacornetti
Cubisr Head 1954 of five Venice woman versions in the Tate. The latter's
Marble relationship is almost fortuitous. even tentative. while
7½ high
Tate Gallery in the former they have the irrevocable certainty of the
original conception.
2
Giacornetti It was inevitable that the Tate exhibition should recall
Man Poinring 1947 memories of the superbly impressive show of the
Bronze
70 high artist's works held at the Galerie Beyeler in Basle two
Tate Gallery
years ago. There on the two upper floors of the old
3 house in the Baumleingasse. facing the Erasmushuis.
Portway
1965 one came upon the exhibits in fascinating succession
X 76 in. as one walked from one small room to another and
Dria Galleries

1 2

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