Alberto Giacometti

Giacometti used thin, extended bodies to explore distance, instability, and the difficulty of seeing another person clearly. The approach became especially prominent in his postwar sculptures and is often linked to existential concerns.

Walking Man I is a bronze figure made by Giacometti in 1960, showing a striding human form with an unusually narrow body. It is one of his most recognizable sculptures and a major example of his mature style.

Man Pointing is a 1947 sculpture with an elongated figure extending one arm toward a distant point. Giacometti cast the work in bronze after developing the form in plaster.

Giacometti worked in the same postwar Parisian cultural environment as writers including Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Sartre wrote about Giacometti's sculpture, linking its isolated figures to questions of perception and existence.