Early Avant-Garde Years
1925–1929
In 1925, sensing an inability to advance in the representational and figurative, Giacometti turns to the study of avant-garde sculpture. He makes the acquaintance of Zadkine, Brancusi and Lipchitz, the artist who will influence him most during this period.
In February 1925, Giacometti is joined in Paris by his brother Diego. He exhibits two works at the Salon des Tuileries at the invitation of his teacher Bourdelle. Giacometti studies Post-Cubist sculpture and develops an interest in the Mexican and African cultures. On 1 December 1926, he rents the studio at 46 Rue Hippolyte Maindron, where he will live and work for the rest of his life.
Spoon Woman (1926-27), the first of his arrestingly frontal, large female figures suggestive of cult images, was inspired by human-shaped spoons, and achieves an almost magical presence.
In summer 1927, Giacometti sculpts an important series of heads of his father, employing a number of different materials: clay, plaster, granite and marble. In 1928, he sculpts Gazing Head, the first in a series of flat sculptures known as Plaques. In 1929, his friendship with André Masson deepens and he is introduced to the group of surrealist dissidents.
