The Body as Matter: Giacometti Nauman Picasso

The Body as Matter: Giacometti Nauman Picasso, 2024, installation view Artwork © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2024; © Succession Alberto Giacometti / DACS 2024; © 2024 Bruce Nauman / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd Courtesy Gagosian

On View from June 6, the Exhibition Is the First to Consider Sculpture by These Three Artists Together

LONDON, —Gagosian is pleased to announce The Body as Matter: Giacometti Nauman Picasso, an exhibition of sculpture by Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966), Bruce Nauman (b. 1941), and Pablo Picasso (1881–1973). Curated by Richard Calvocoressi, the exhibition is on view at the Grosvenor Hill Gallery from June 6 to July 26, 2024. The Exhibition Is the First to Consider Sculpture by These Three Artists Together

PABLO PICASSO La femme enceinte I, 1950, cast by Valsuani in 1951-53 Bronze 41 x 12 1/2 x 8 3/4 inches (104.1 x 31.8 x 22.2 cm) Edition of 3, one numbered cast and nos. 1/6 and 2/6 casting stamp "CIRE PERDUE C. VALSUANI" © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2024 Photo: Rob McKeever Courtesy Gagosian

Radical investigations of the human body and how we perceive it characterize the distinct sculptural practices of Giacometti, Nauman, and Picasso, who are widely regarded as defining figures of their respective generations. From the modernist preoccupation with the fragmented or disintegrated body typical of Picasso’s and Giacometti’s work to the postmodern expansion of sculpture into a range of environmental and anti-monumental forms exemplified by Nauman’s, this is the first exhibition to juxtapose sculptures by these three artists. It features classic pieces by all three, including Picasso’s La femme enceinte I (1950) and Bras vertical (1961), Giacometti’s La jambe (1958) and Grande tête (1960), and Nauman’s Henry Moore Bound to Fail (1967/1970) and Model for Room with My Soul Left Out, Room That Does Not Care (1984).

PABLO PICASSO Tête de femme, 1951, cast 1955 Bronze 21 1/8 x 14 1/8 x 7 3/8 inches (53.7 x 35.9 x 18.7 cm) Edition of 4; one unnumbered cast and nos. 1/6, 2/6, and 3/6 © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2024 Photo: Rob McKeever Courtesy Gagosian

A pioneer of Cubism best known for his paintings, drawings, and collages, Picasso produced numerous sculptures, which are among his most experimental works. He primarily sculpted in two distinct modes: modeling clay or plaster for casting into bronze, and constructing or assembling forms from discarded objects and cheap materials such as sheet metal, wood, and cardboard. In works of astonishing wit and originality, not to mention erotic suggestiveness, Picasso investigated means of manipulating mass and surface to incorporate multiple perspectives into a single head, limb, or figure.

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI Grande Tête, 1960 Patinated bronze 37 1/2 x 12 x 14 3/4 inches (95.3 x 30.4 x 36.1 cm) © Succession Alberto Giacometti / DACS 2024 Photo: Rob McKeever Courtesy Gagosian

In Paris in the 1920s Giacometti came under the influence of Surrealism, encouraging him to incorporate into his sculptures a sense of sexual violence or threat that Nauman would later take up. Giacometti’s modeled and cast sculptures from the postwar period—fragile, highly textured, and strikingly elongated—broke away from the conventions of classical sculpture to evoke instead the survivors of some human or natural catastrophe. These depictions of the fractured and vulnerable figure or of isolated body parts appear frozen in motion, prompting reflections on mortality. Focusing almost exclusively on the body, Giacometti’s paring of the figure to its bare essentials challenged tradition and paved the way for contemporary artists to consider new possibilities.

BRUCE NAUMAN Untitled, 1996 White bronze with painted steel base 55 3/8 x 12 x 12 inches (140.7 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm) Edition of 2 © 2024 Bruce Nauman / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS Photo: Robert Vinas Jr Courtesy Sperone Westwater

Since the 1960s Nauman has pursued a varied practice that builds on Picasso’s and Giacometti’s innovations. Nauman produces work in sculpture, performance, video, and neon that confronts viewers with their own physical limitations and employs repetitive actions, linguistic play, and stark imagery to disrupt perception and thought. The artist’s invocation of corporeal presence echoes Giacometti’s, yet he visualizes the human condition through the prisms of contemporary culture and modern technology. Addressing concerns such as the effect of surveillance and the allure of instant gratification, Nauman’s works require the viewer’s physical presence and mental engagement to activate them.

Alberto Giacometti working at his studio, 1956 Photo Pierre Vauthey/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images © Succession Alberto Giacometti DACS 2024

Giacometti, Nauman, and Picasso have all redefined sculpture—reshaping traditional mediums and pioneering new ones. Picasso’s groundbreaking move away from a naturalistic representation of the human form was extended by Giacometti, whose elongated, modeled, and cast figures draw attention to material and process, while evoking the artist’s struggle to capture a living, breathing presence in three dimensions.

Bruce Nauman in his UC Davis studio, 1965, with a fiberglass-and-polyester-resin sculpture, now destroyed. © 2024 Bruce Nauman / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York and DACS, London. Courtesy of Sperone Westwater, NY

Nauman often uses his own body as subject, and encourages the viewer to become an involved participant. For all three artists, the space we occupy, the ways we are perceived, and our effect on others are crucial elements in their unique methods of existential inquiry.

Pablo Picasso working in his sculpture studio Le Fournas making a sculpture figure with odds and ends from his scrap heap. The finished sculpture got the name "La femme à la clé (La Taulière)" ("Woman with a key"). Le Fournas, Vallauris 1953. Photo Edward Quinn, © edwardquinn.com © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2024

THE BODY AS MATTER: GIACOMETTI NAUMAN PICASSO

Opening reception was on Thursday, June 6, 6–8pm and opened on June 6 and will be on view until July 26, 2024 at the location 20 Grosvenor Hill, London location

For more information about this exhibition and others presented by Gagosian please visit the gallery’s site here. The gallery can also be found on Pinterest, X, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Artsy.