In Giacometti's Studio - an Intimate Portrait, Eykyn Maclean's inaugural exhibition, presented a unique overview of Alberto Giacometti’s artistic achievement. Dating from 1917 to 1965, the works exhibited – nearly 100 sculptures, paintings and drawings, as well as photographs and documents – were selected principally from the collection of Giacometti’s heirs. Supplemented by loans from other prestigious collections, many of the works on view in this scholarly, not-for-sale exhibition had never before been exhibited.
Both the exhibition and the two publications that accompanied it focused on the tiny, cluttered studio behind Montparnasse where Giacometti spent the last four decades of his life (1926-66), relentlessly pursuing his vision of mankind. The studio was presented in this dramatically designed exhibition as both the mirror and the archive of Giacometti’s work, reflecting and recording the most essential and intimate insights into the artist’s astonishing creativity.
The exhibition was curated by art historian Michael Peppiatt, whose lifelong fascination with Giacometti’s studio began in 1966 when he moved to Paris and became close to the artist’s family and inner circle of friends. Peppiatt’s book, In Giacometti’s Studio, was published by Yale University Press to coincide with the opening of the show at Eykyn Maclean.
A fully-illustrated hardcover catalogue was publisehd to accompany the exhibition and includes a recent interview (carried out specifically for the exhibition) between Dr. Peppiatt and the poet and Giacometti expert, Jacques Dupin. The catalogue is available to purchase through this website.