FIGURINE AU GRAND SOCLE

ONCE GIACOMETTI ARRIVED AT HIS CHARACTERISTIC ATTENTUATION OF THE FIGURE IN THE LATE 1940S, ONE ONGOING ISSUE FOR THE SCULPTOR WAS THE QUESTION OF SCALE. EVEN IF A SCULPTURE WERE LIFE-SIZE, THE THINNESS OF THE FIGURE IS A DISTORTION OF ITS NATURAL VOLUME, WHICH AFFECTS THE VIEWER'S PERCEPTION OF ITS SIZE AND SCALE. WHILE GIACOMETTI CAST MANY SCULPTURES THAT WERE AS HIGH AS SIX FEET OR MORE, HE DISCOVERED THAT HIS TREATMENT OF THE FIGURE ENABLED HIM TO INSPIRE A SIMILAR SENSE OF UNIVERSALITY AND MONUMENTALITY IN SCULPTURES THAT WERE A FRACTION OF THIS HEIGHT.

ANOTHER CONSIDERATION FOR THE ARTIST WAS THE DEGREE OF DETAIL ON THE SURFACE OF HIS WORKS; IF TAKEN TOO FAR, DETAIL MIGHT DISTRACT THE VIEWER FROM A PERCEPTION OF THE WHOLE. IN THE SCULPTOR'S SMALLER FIGURES HE MANAGES AN EFFECTIVE EQUILIBRIUM OF THESE CONTRADICTORY FORCES, AND MAKES REFERENCE TO A BASIC VISUAL PHENOMENON AS WELL:

I INSTINCTIVELY REDUCED THE SIZE OF THE SCULPTURE IN
ORDER TO SITUATE IT AT THE REAL DISTANCE FROM WHICH I
HAD SEEN THE PERSON. FROM FIFTEEN YARDS AWAY THE GIRL
DIDN'T MEASURE THREE FEET BUT SIX INCHES. BESIDES, IN
ORDER TO HAVE A VISION OF THE WHOLE, IN ORDER NOT TO
DROWN IN DETAILS, I HAD TO BE FAIRLY FAR AWAY. BUT DETAILS
BOTHERED ME. SO I JUST KEPT BACKING AWAY UNTIL THE IMAGE
DISAPPEARED. (A. GIACOMETTI, QUOTED IN J. CLAY, "GIACOMETTI:
THE FILIFORM VISION", RALITS, FEB., 1970)