Dimensions: support: 653 x 543 mm frame: 790 x 686 x 55 mm
Copyright: © The Estate of Alberto Giacometti (Fondation Giacometti, Paris and ADAGP, Paris), licensed in the UK by ACS and DACS, London 2014 | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: So, this is Alberto Giacometti's portrait of Jean Genet. There's an unsettling rawness to it, especially in the frantic lines and earth-toned palette. What's your take on it? Curator: Consider Giacometti's process. The layering of oil paint, scraped and reworked, speaks to a struggle with representation itself. It's not just a portrait; it's a record of the labor involved in trying to capture Genet's essence. Editor: I see what you mean! It does feel more about the act of creation. Curator: Exactly. How does this focus on the means of production affect our understanding of Genet, the subject, and his role as a writer and social figure? Editor: It almost strips away the romanticism of the artist. Food for thought! Curator: Indeed, seeing the materiality foregrounded changes everything.
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Genet was among the leading French writers of the twentieth century. His novels, poems and plays celebrate his gay identity and criminal past. He also wrote a short book on Giacometti. Like many of Giacometti’s portraits, this work uses a reduced palette of colours. Giacometti gradually builds a likeness of Genet through a series of small tentative brushstrokes. This technique creates a tense, shifting outline around the figure, which parallels the rough, highly-worked surfaces of Giacometti’s sculptures. Gallery label, August 2021
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