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Creativity and love: The Giacometti family of artists
Giovanni Giacometti (3rd from right) and Annetta Giacometti (r) with their four children in an archive photo from 1909 from the documentary “The Giacomettis”. photo
© Andrea Garbald/Arsenalfilm/dpa
Alberto Giacometti was one of the most important sculptors of the 20th century. His creativity did not come by chance. A documentary is now getting to the bottom of the secret.
Elbow-long, thin bronze figures are an unmistakable trademark of the Swiss sculptor and painter Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966). He is considered one of the most important sculptors of the post-war period. Swiss director Susanna Fanzun shows what nourished his artistic soul throughout his life in the documentary “The Giacomettis”. In it she highlights the great creativity of the entire family and the great love that bound parents and siblings together throughout their lives.
The film itself is a work of art: black and white shots transform the serpentine roads in the barren mountain valley of Bergell, where the family lived, into a painting; blowing snow on a mountain ridge gives it mystical beauty. She lets photos appear on house walls, and recreated scenes bring the sociable family life that can be seen in many paintings to life. Fanzun has tracked down many of the family’s letters, documents and companions, and they all say: the family was a gift to everyone who knew them. The father was kind, the mother was warm, the four children were exuberant and wrote letters to each other from schools and study rooms far away about how much they missed each other.
The film sheds light on the father, a painter who constantly painted the family and encouraged his children’s artistic streak. Albert, the eldest, who felt like an artist from an early age, found inspiration in long journeys before setting up his studio in the bohemian district of Montparnasse in Paris.
He shared the studio with Diego, his brother, until his death, who then emerged from his shadow and became known as an artistic furniture maker. The youngest brother, Bruno, was an architect who built, among other things, the Swiss pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Her sister Ottilia, who can be seen in many of her father and brother’s works, died hours after the birth of her son Silvio at the age of 33. None of the brothers had children.
The children did not lose their love for their homeland, Stampa in Bergell in Graubünden near the Italian border, throughout their lives. The parents as well as Alberto and Diego are buried in the nearby Borgonovo cemetery.
Alberto Giacometti Foundation Film “The Giacomettis”