Alberto Giacometti, modeling a bust of Yanaihara in his workshop, 1960. Photo: Annette Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti, Caroline larmes (Caroline llorando), 1962
Alberto Giacometti, Busto de hombre (Nueva York II), 1965.
Chronology
1901
10 October: birth of Alberto Giacometti in Borgonovo, a small village in the Val Bregaglia region of Switzerland, near the Italian border. The eldest child of Swiss Impressionist painter and engraver Giovanni Giacometti (1868-1933) and Annetta Stampa (1871-1964), he later has two brothers, Diego (1902-1985) and Bruno (born 1907), and a sister, Ottilia (1904-1937).
1906
Move to Stampa, two kilometres from Borgonovo, where Giovanni sets up a studio.
circa 1915
First sculpted portrait of his brother Diego.
First oil painting: Still Life with Apples.
1919
Gives up school and enrols at the École des Beaux-Arts
in Geneva and then at the École des Arts et Métiers.
1922
Arrives in Paris in January to study sculpture.
1926
1 December: moves into the studio at 46 rue Hippolyte-Maindron.
1927
Shows two works at the Salon des Tuileries: The Couple and Spoon Woman.
1929
He meets Jean Cocteau, the Noailles and André Masson and is introduced into the Surrealist circle.
1930
His brother Diego joins him permanently in Paris.
1931
Joins André Breton’s Surrealist group and contributes to its events, publications and exhibitions.
1932
First solo exhibition in Paris, at the Galerie Pierre Colle.
1934
First solo exhibition in New York in December, at the Julien Levy Gallery.
1935
14 February: expelled from Surrealist group.
1936
Chooses Pierre Matisse to represent him in the United States. His first museum piece, The Palace at 4 A.M., enters the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
1942-1945
Remains in Switzerland for the rest of the war. Meets his future wife and one of his favourite models, Annette Arm (1923-1993).
1945
September: Returns to Paris and his studio, which has remained intact thanks to Diego.
Becomes involved once more in the Paris literary scene.
1948
January: Holds his first solo exhibition of new works since 1934, at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York.
Sartre writes the preface to the catalogue.
1951
First exhibition at the Galerie Maeght in Paris.
More exhibitions follow in 1954, 1957 and 1961. To mark the event, he creates the first lithographic plates to be published by Maeght, for the journal Derrière le miroir. Others follow in 1954 and every year from 1957 to 1961, either for the journal or as numbered prints.
1955
First retrospective exhibitions in museums in New York, London, and Germany.
Works closely, from then until his death, with writers and poets such as René Char, Jean Genet, André du Bouchet, Paul Eluard, Jacques Dupin, Olivier Larronde, Lena Leclercq and Edith Boissonas, illustrating their books or poems with drawings or prints.
1957
Jean Genet writes L’Atelier d’Alberto Giacometti, which appears in the journal Derrière le miroir and then as a book, illustrated in 1963 with photographs taken by Ernst Scheidegger.
1962
Guest artist at the Venice Biennale with a solo exhibition, he wins the Grand Prize for Sculpture.
Major retrospective exhibition at the Kunsthaus in Zurich.
1965
Receives the National Arts Award from the French Ministry for Cultural Affairs.
1966
11 January: Dies of cardiac exhaustion at Coire Hospital in Switzerland. He is buried in Borgonovo cemetery on 15 January.