Museum de Fundatie, Zwolle

Giacometti-Chadwick – Facing Fear

The sculptures of Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966) are often reduced to a representation of man to its bare essentials.
After his art educations in Paris he met artists like Dalí, Breton and Aragon and he decided to join the surrealists around 1930. Giacometti participated in many exhibitions with the Surrealists in Europe and the United States. But after some years he struggled with his style, was searching for new ways of modelling and in those days he lost lost affiliation with the Surrealists. He also stopped exposing work for at least 7 years.
After his marriage with Annette Arm in 1949  his most productive period began with Ann as his muse.
Giacometti was awarded the Grand Prize of Sculpture at the 1962 Venice Biennale.

Lynn Chadwick (1914-2003) was 20 - 25 years old when he worked for an architectural firm. Then he took the first steps as a draftsman, after which he also made watercolors and oil paintings.
After the Second World War he worked as a professional artist and created his first sculptures after training in welding. A late bloomer. His style is recognizable by the welded parts of metal.
In 1949 Chadwick had his first participation in group exhibitions, followed in 1950 by a first solo exhibition.
In 1956 he defeated Giacometti at the Grand Prix of Venice.

In this exposition with the title Facing Fear we see the reflections of people's fear the Cold War. Both sculptors incorporated these fears in their work in their own way.
A unique exposition because never before were the works of Giacometti and Chadwick brought together so explicitly. Well done by Museum De Fundatie.