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Giacometti

Spend a few intense minutes with Giacometti in his Paris studio and see him at work on his striking sculptures.

Documentary 1967 14 mins

Overview

Spend a few minutes with Giacometti in his Paris studio and watch him "squeezing and stretching and mauling the clay in his hands". Through sharply edited close-ups, dissonant soundtrack and solemn commentary, this Arts Council film captures the intensity of the artist's concentration as he rhythmically models the spindly, elongated figures that characterise his work.

The Arts Council commissioned this film to coincide with their major retrospective of Giacometti's work at the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) in the summer of 1965. A similar exhibition was held concurrently at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, sealing the artist's reputation as a modern master. Listen out for Giacometti's voice and hone your French - it isn't subtitled.