1. GIACOMETTI
Alberto Giacometti (October 10, 1901 – January 11, 1966) was a Swiss sculptor, painter, draftsman, and printmaker.

2. Alberto Giacometti was born in Borgonovo, now part of the Swiss municipality of Stampa, near the Italian border. His father, Giovanni Giacometti, was a painter. Alberto attended the School of Fine Arts in Geneva.
In 1922 he moved to Paris to study under the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, an associate of Auguste Rodin. It was there that Giacometti experimented with surrealism and came to be regarded as one of the leading surrealist sculptors. Among his associates were Joan Miró, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso and Balthus.
From 1936 to 1940 Giacometti concentrated his sculpting on the human head, focusing on the model's gaze, followed by a unique artistic phase in which his statues became stretched out; their limbs elongated. Obsessed with creating his sculptures exactly as he envisioned through his unique view of reality, he often carved until they were as thin as nails and reduced to the size of a pack of cigarettes, much to his consternation. A friend of his once said that if Giacometti decided to sculpt you, "he would make your head look like the blade of a knife." After his marriage his tiny sculptures became larger, but the larger they grew, the thinner they became. Giacometti said that the final result represented the sensation he felt when he looked at a woman.

3. Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members. Surrealist works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions

4. Even after his excommunication from the Surrealist group, while the intention of his sculpting was usually imitation, the end products were an expression of his emotional response to the subject. He attempted to create renditions of his models the way he saw them, and the way he thought they ought to be seen. He once said that he was sculpting not the human figure but "the shadow that is cast” His works capture the existential loneliness of modern humanity.

5. Existentialism is a philosophical movement which posits that individuals create the meaning and essence of their lives, as opposed to it being created for them by deities or authorities or defined for them by philosophical or theological doctrines.

6. Legacy
His work is in numerous public collections, including the Tate Modern and Tate Liverpool, in Britain, Kunsthaus Zürich, the Museum of Modern Art, in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, DC, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Carnegie Museum of Art, in Pittsburgh. He created the monument on the grave of Gerda Taro at Père Lachaise Cemetery.[3]
In 2001 he was included in the Painting the Century 101 Portrait Masterpieces exhibition held at the National Portrait Gallery, London.
In November 2000 Grande Femme Debout I by Giacometti sold for $14.3 million.[4] Giacometti's bronze "Grande femme debout II," was bought by the Gagosian art gallery for $ 27.4 million at Christie's auction in New York City on May 6, 2008.[5]
Giacometti and his sculpture Three Men Walking appear on the current 100 Swiss Franc banknote...