Giacometti at Tate Modern

I spent the morning at London Met, resigning from my course.  The form I had to complete was shockingly basic.  Name, number, course; last date attended, date of formal resignation, and one box to tick to indicate reason for leaving.  No interview, no request for explanation of leaving, no discussion about entitlement to refund.  Fortunately I asked about a refund and was told it would be a pro-rata reimbursement, and that I had to ring the Income Collection team.  No offer of using their phone.  I tried the number - no answer.  So I emailed them.  No answer yet.

I've liked Giacometti ever since I was first visiting exhibitions as a student.  One of my first successful exhibition sketches was of one of his sculptures of his brother.  His style of sculpture was very well suited to my scribbly sketching style.  This exhibition at Tate took a chronological approach to his artwork.  His earlier sculptures were influenced by African and Oceanic imagery, followed by the Surrealists and Dada.

Giacometti, Man and Woman 1929, Spoon Woman, 1929, Woman and Chariot,  1945

In 1945, immediate post-war, Giacometti's style changed.  He started created attenuated forms and isolated figures which were read as embodying human anxieties and alienation.  By these figures, a generation traumatised by war recognised itself.  I enjoy drawing these figures.

Giacometti, Falling Man 1950,
Standing Woman x 2, Standing  Woman with broken shoulder, 1958-9

In one of the rooms, it said that Giacometti was striving to portray the perfect woman and was experimenting to find the ideal form.  I don't really get this - first his attenuated forms were representing a traumatised generation, then become the perfect female form.  I like to draw them but have not resolved my position about what they represent.  

I think I need to go back and draw some more.  I only drew the medium sized sculptures - but he did exquisite miniatures (I would need a magnifying glass to draw them) and incredible 10 foot high ones.