French Literature Reviews - 2026
É. Barilier, Alberto Giacometti. La vie dans le regard
Art and Visual Culture
Étienne Barilier,
Alberto Giacometti. La vie dans le regard
Lausanne, coll. "Le savoir suisse", EPFL Press, 2020
168 p.
EAN13 Print book: 9782889153817
EAN13 eBook [PDF]: 9782889145423
Has the 20th century, defined by war and barbarism, not disfigured humanity? How can art henceforth represent a simple face, a simple gaze? Dadaism, cubism, surrealism, abstract art—each in its own way—evade the question. Alberto Giacometti, however, seeks to answer it. Thus, he chooses a model, seats them before him, and sets to work. Patiently, ardently, obsessively, he paints and sculpts the human body and face, bringing them back to us alive.
More tormented than anyone, he nevertheless manages to recover within bodies, faces, and gazes that essential humanity, worthy of love, which millennia of artistic creation have authentically represented from Sumer to Egypt, from African masks to the mosaics of Ravenna, from Giotto to the *Pietà Rondanini*. Giacometti, more than anyone else, belongs to his century; yet of this broken, fallen century, few artists have restored its grandeur as powerfully as he did.
Contents
1 Dürer’s Knight (1901-1915)
Early struggles – Suffering for Rodin
2 The Bust of Bianca (1916-1922) – The Distant Pears – Initiatory Shocks – Pygmalion
3 The Skull (1922-1929) – The Human, Always – The Style of Truth
4 Surrealism? (1930-1935) – Neither Marx nor Freud – Beyond Chance – Bereavements
5 Minute Monuments (1936-1945) – Accident – Under the Sign of Callot – Wife and Mother – Imaginary Museum
6 Head on a Rod (1946-1949) – The Disasters of War – Not Cut Out for Sculpting?
7 The Women of Venice (1950-1956) – Alberto the Dog – Being a Tree – Terrible Goddesses – The Narrow Passage
8 Copying Reality – Fleeing the Louvre – Painting Painters – The Necessary Chaos
9 Frenhofer – "It Begins" – Open Wound – Mirrored
10 "I Still Have Everything to Do" (1957-1966) – Icons of Mortals – Rapture – Death – "Oh Wonder!"
Bibliography
View the book on the publisher's website…
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When a writer passionate about culture tackles the life and work of one of modernity's greatest creators, the result is *Alberto Giacometti, la vie dans le regard*, published in the Le Savoir suisse collection by the pen of Étienne Barilier.
The 20th century witnessed profound shifts in artistic representation, as movements like Dadaism, cubism, and surrealism moved away from traditional figurative depictions. In this historical climate, the human figure became a site of questioning regarding the representation of humanity. Étienne Barilier's Alberto Giacometti. La vie dans le regard examines Giacometti's efforts to paint and sculpt the human body and face, situating his work in relation to artistic traditions from Sumer and Egypt to the works of Giotto.
Barilier tracks the evolution of Giacometti's practice through his relationship with surrealism and his dialogue with art history. The text addresses how the artist confronted the challenges of his era, specifically the difficulty of capturing a gaze in a world marked by conflict. By examining specific periods of his career, such as the creation of the Women of Venice, the book explores the artist's focus on rendering reality. Readers interested in the intersection of modern art and the human figure may find this relevant.