Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti were two artists of the 20th century. They both made fascinating works of art that interested viewers. They both had different fields. Francis Bacon was into painting. Alberto Giacometti was more into sculpture. They both expressed themselves through magnificent art works. They used the power of creativity show the world that they exist. They are both successful in their fields. They are the artists of the modern times.
The practiced modernism, which was the setting aside tradition way of art and replacing them with ideas and existence, was seen in them. They are artists that look their art in a modern way. This paper argues the works of both Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti and would cite out what is similar and dissimilar between them.(“Art since 1900` “)
Inspired by some of the works of Pablo Picasso and other artists, Francis Bacon has done a noteworthy part in the history of art. Some of his famous collections were the painting of the odd views of religion, abstractions and everyday objects. His works expressed much anguish. His works were often bold, striking and austere at the same time. His works include different versions of Head and some nude paintings. Bacon is fond of creating heads as his works rather than faces.
Oftentimes, his works are weird and cannot be easily interpreted. The feelings of the artist are clearly seen in his paintings. This underlying concept of his, made his paintings famous. Francis Bacon viewed art in his own perspectives. He was not “boxed” from the traditional ways of painting and expressing art. He dared to be different while still having to express himself and his own concept of art.(“Francis Bacon”; “Alberto Giacometti”)
Alberto Giacometti made use of techniques such as cubism and prominent surrealism. He was then been noted to be a surrealistic sculptor. However, although he is often regarded as a surrealist because of his involvement in the surrealist movement, his works are really hard to categorize. There is no definite category for his works. Some of his works are regarded as expressionist by some people while other people say that his works are much of a formalist. He was interested in sculpting thin images. He first started sculpting thin heads.
Later on, this heads grew limbs. He became famous with his sculpture entitled, The Three Men Walking, 1949. His thin meaningful sculptures interested the views. In 1962, he was given the grand prize for sculpture. He became even more famous for his awarding in the Venice Biennale. His later years, he devoted in reworking models, creating his personal work from other works of art. Because of this, much people criticized him for not having originality. He said that when he sees a work of art, he does not understand that art until he makes his own version of it. Still, Giacometti is a renowned modernist.
There are actually some critics who said that his works reflect the modern way of life which is actually empty. There are also works of Giacometti which are just inspired by the usual way of life. He has done a sculpture of a cart with big wheels and a woman in top. He said that it was inspired by a cart he saw in the hospital that was brought to the ward by the nurses. (“Alberto Giacometti”)
The similarity between the two artists is their modernistic view in art. They both released from the tradition way of art to create new ideas in modern times. They constructed innovative ways to express their feelings. There vision to see art in a different way gave much light to a new form of art. They made their own form of art. Also, they are both into doing nude works whether it is a painting or sculpture. Bacon has his own nude paintings while Giacometti also has his own nude sculptures.
The difference between them is that Bacon’s works were quite nightmarish and was based on his anguish he experienced in his life while Giacometti’s works were based on the arts his see and carve them into the thinnest scale that the art from the other artist becomes his. Bacon’s paintings show much sadness and despair while Giacometti’s sculptures show inspiration and boldness.
For example, Bacon’s painting with Pope Innocent X expressed so much negative emotions while Giacometti’s sculpture with the three thin walking men expressed much tact, which show the realness of the sculpture, expressed positive emotion. Both Bacon and Giacometti had a vision for great art. They found ways to express themselves through the power of art. Their art is a sign of great beauty.(“Francis Bacon”; “Alberto Giacometti”; “Expressionism”)
Reference
- “Alberto Giacometti”. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Giacometti>.
- “Art since 1900` ” volume 2 (1945).
- “Expressionism”. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressionism_%28art%29>.
- “Francis Bacon”. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon_%28painter%29>.
