A collection of six tall and lean female sculptures by artist Alberto Giacometti for the Venice Biennale in 1956 are to be presented for the first time in 60 years at the Tate Modern in the spring of 2017. The Women Of Venice plasters will also be shown with two other sculptures from the same series.
Known for working with bronze, Giacometti his creations are widely regarded as some of the most important sculptures of the 20th century. His 1947 L’Homme au Doigt (pointing man) was sold at an auction in 2015 for £91m.
Because of the focus on his bronze collections Giacometti’s plaster works are less well known. Something that the Tate Modern hopes to change.
“We always think of Giacometti as an artist in bronze, but of course bronze was the final outcome of a process that began with more informal, liquid materials,” says Frances Morris, the director of Tate Modern and a co-curator (10 May-10 September). “He started making bronzes because people wanted to collect his work, but he wasn’t terribly interested in the casting process.”
The female plasters are modelled after Giacometti’s wife and muse Annette. They will be restored before the show and after the show the plaster will head back to Paris, where they will be made available to scholars but will not go on tour.