Alberto Giacometti
Figure as Monument: Giacometti in Langtou
ChunYangTai Arts and Cultural Center
Guangzhou

Alberto Giacometti’s palpably angst-ridden figures recently made their way to Guangdong, where they appeared even more anxious than usual. To mark the 60th anniversary of Sino-French diplomatic relations, Chinese architect Yung Ho Chang and Emilie Bouvard, director of collections and scientific programs at the Fondation Giacometti, co-curated “Figure as Monument: Alberto Giacometti in Langtou,” bringing 79 Giacometti works from Paris to a 700-year-old village in southern China. Addressing the relationship between Giacometti’s oeuvre and the built environment, the exhibition placed sculptures, paintings, and drawings by the Swiss modern master in dialogue with works by three contemporary Chinese artists as well as the ChunYangTai Arts and Cultural Center itself—a contemporary complex designed to integrate harmoniously with the lush natural setting and ancient architecture of the historical village. The juxtaposition was thoughtful, verging on overly earnest, and Giacometti’s anguished figures—uprooted and displaced to a foreign land—projected heightened nervous energy.