Woman with her Throat Cut Flashcards
artist
Alberto Giacometti
date
1932
Giamotti biographical summary
Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman and printmaker.
Beginning in 1922, he lived and worked mainly in Paris but regularly visited his hometown Borgonovo to see his family and work on his art.
His work was particularly influenced by artistic styles such as Cubism and Surrealism.
subject
*Suggests image of a woman who has been raped and murdered
*Part-woman (we can identify some female attributes such as breasts), part-crustacean, part-insect (hybrid creature)
*Possibly inspired by the praying mantis insect by thin stomach and bulbous breasts (female eats male after sex)
*Intended to be placed on the floor without a base: debased
*Even though it is abstracted unrealistic and distorted, it is a powerful image of sexual pleasure and / or violence
what are the recognisable aspects of the female figure
breasts, torso / stomach, legs, spine, neck, arms
treatment of figure
-has recognisable features of female figure BUT figure is non-naturalistic, abstracted, distorted, disproportionate, skeletal and stripped down.
what are the ambiguous hybrid forms
part-woman, part-crustacean (scorpion-like), insect-like (praying mantis), even plant-like (Venus fly trap)
Dark, threatening and violent forms: spiked, machine-like, trap-like forms; some biomorphic such as a leaf / shell / pod-like form
metamorphosis of forms
right foot turns into pine tree / shell; left arm leaf / claw; right arm into mobile pod-like form that can be moved back and forth; body like landscape.
how is the treatment of the figure sexualised
legs splayed, phallic form of neck
composition description
-horizontal emphasis
-movement and twisting
-open (enhanced by lack of plinth; lack of spatial boundary between work and viewer)
-asymmetrical
technique
-Modelling in plaster and casting in bronze gives opportunity to create limb-like projections and spiked forms
-Casting technique using lost-wax method allows for detail e.g. vertebrae in neck
-Modelling in wax evident in vertebrae and large open form
advantage of high tensile strength of bronze
-High tensile strength of bronze allows for twisted and contorted form of body and an open, linear, contraption-like composition
-Left leg supported on thin foot and arch of body curved in tension: bronze is self-supporting
how does this subvert traditional connotations of bronze
Bronze: “noble” associations debased / subverted; used here for an innovative subject (almost taboo)
effect of the smoothness of bronze
-Smoothness of bronze enhances curve of breasts, arch of back and hollow of open “hand” - increases “seduction” of the work
coulour and patina of bronze effect
-Dark metallic look of the material adds a threatening aspect
-Single colour of material unifies disjointed forms; pieces appear to have been cast separately and assembled (evident in the joint in the left “hand”)
-Patina ( the brown film on the surface of bronze produced by oxidation) accentuates the arch of the back and contortion of limbs
how does bronze make it it look more mechanistic
Medium makes it look more mechanistic (in combination with forms) - armour-like, insect/ crustacean
polish and surface
-Not highly polished; the light reflective quality makes it appear less human
-Some variation in texture (dappled to appear skin-like in places?)
-It has an impersonal surface: there are few marks of handling - subject is de-humanised
effect of no base
No base/ plinth: spreads over floor; encourages viewing from above
influence of surrealism seen in this work
Giacometti uses the 8 Surrealist techniques of:
1.bizarre juxtaposition seen in a) its hybridity (woman / crustacean / insect); b) the female form invaded by spiked and unfamiliar forms; c) bronze traditional associations debased in a fiercely avant-guard work
2.distortion and displacement of anatomical parts to express the fears and urges of the unconscious
3.metamorphosis (one of the arms metamorphoses into a cylindrical weight (nightmare of not being able to lift arm)
4.Surrealist preoccupation with sexual violence (especially when viewing this work from a high vantage point on the floor)
5.Freudian castration fear displace onto female body (see the phallic neck has been wounded fatally)
6.Freudian fetish: (a fetish is a form of sexual desire in which gratification is linked to an abnormal degree to a particular object, item of clothing, part of the body etc.); fetishism was much discussed in the early part of the 20th century and plays a significant part in Freudian theory; the fetishism of this work is enhanced by its portability
- Freudian taboo: the idea of the taboo is presented in Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams (1900). Freud believed that man should embrace his base instincts / taboo subjects and believed the reason why society was not functioning well was because people were afraid to embrace their base instincts. Fellow Surrealist George Bataille encouraged Giacometti to explore the taboo: here the taboo revolves around: rape, murder, sexual pleasure. Bataille also encouraged Giacometti to explore the thin line between life and death as well as the eroticism Bataille linked to death – in French, “la petite mort” (the little death) is a euphemism for orgasm
8.This sculpture sums up visually the deep, dark corners of the Surrealist spirit and vision of women
how was giacometti involved in surrealism
-end of 1920s Giacometti was drawn into the orbit of the Paris Surrealists
*1929 meets Michel Leiris, a prominent Surrealist writer
*Leiris introduces Giacometti to other Surrealists, who introduced him to the writings by psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud
*He came into the group in 1930 and had left by 1935
when did he join the surrealists
1930
what did he say about his surrealist work
He said of his Surrealist work that “the sculptures presented themselves to my mind entirely accomplished” and claimed that the objects came to him from his unconscious
who did he meet in 1929
-1929 meets Michel Leiris, a prominent Surrealist writer
style
surrealism
