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拍品專文
Couple cubiste was conceived circa 1926-1927 and marks an important watershed in Giacometti's career. At this time, he was beginning to develop an idiosyncratic style which would evolve over the years, through his almost Cycladic works and then the Surreal-infused sculptures, eventually culminating in the elongated, existential figures of the post-war period. Couple cubiste dates from the moment that this journey truly began. In the artist’s biography, James Lord explains that “no young artist anxious to make his mark could afford to disregard the Cubist revolution” (J. Lord, Giacometti A Biography, New York, 1997, p. 98).
Giacometti had moved to Paris in the 1920s and often worked in the studio of Emile-Antoine Bourdelle. In 1926, when he began to create his more stylized, avant-garde works, Bourdelle tolerated them, insisting however that he continue to create more traditional works. Giacometti studied under Bourdelle for several years, but they retained a respectful distance in terms of their styles. Around the time that Couple cubiste was created, Giacometti became acquainted with two other sculptors, both of whom had adapted Cubism to their own needs: Jacques Lipchitz and Henri Laurens. The latter in particular fostered a relationship with Giacometti that would continue over the years.
In Couple cubiste, Giacometti has created his own variation of Cubism, bending its visual language to his own purposes. The two main elements resemble two heads, indicating Giacometti's refusal to stray fully into the abstraction. Instead, he retained a solid link to the world around him. Looking at the two main parts of Couple cubiste, with one tilting in and down towards the other, the viewer is reminded of another sculpture from the same period, Le Couple, hinting at the notion that they both present the same subject. In Couple cubiste, though, Giacometti has eschewed the influence of tribal art so clearly present in Le Couple. Instead, he has created a modern vision of form while also paring back his subject matter to raw essentials. In this, Giacometti was showing his intense focus on the core of his subject; this would come to the fore in the coming years, when he created works such as Femme of 1927 and Tête qui regarde (fig. 1) of the following year, which are essentially monoliths in which the barest details have been added, almost as dents. Couple cubiste anticipates these developments in its depiction of the heads as rectangles, the closer of the two with a vertical line which resembles a nose, as though the face were turned.
Giacometti had moved to Paris in the 1920s and often worked in the studio of Emile-Antoine Bourdelle. In 1926, when he began to create his more stylized, avant-garde works, Bourdelle tolerated them, insisting however that he continue to create more traditional works. Giacometti studied under Bourdelle for several years, but they retained a respectful distance in terms of their styles. Around the time that Couple cubiste was created, Giacometti became acquainted with two other sculptors, both of whom had adapted Cubism to their own needs: Jacques Lipchitz and Henri Laurens. The latter in particular fostered a relationship with Giacometti that would continue over the years.
In Couple cubiste, Giacometti has created his own variation of Cubism, bending its visual language to his own purposes. The two main elements resemble two heads, indicating Giacometti's refusal to stray fully into the abstraction. Instead, he retained a solid link to the world around him. Looking at the two main parts of Couple cubiste, with one tilting in and down towards the other, the viewer is reminded of another sculpture from the same period, Le Couple, hinting at the notion that they both present the same subject. In Couple cubiste, though, Giacometti has eschewed the influence of tribal art so clearly present in Le Couple. Instead, he has created a modern vision of form while also paring back his subject matter to raw essentials. In this, Giacometti was showing his intense focus on the core of his subject; this would come to the fore in the coming years, when he created works such as Femme of 1927 and Tête qui regarde (fig. 1) of the following year, which are essentially monoliths in which the barest details have been added, almost as dents. Couple cubiste anticipates these developments in its depiction of the heads as rectangles, the closer of the two with a vertical line which resembles a nose, as though the face were turned.