Prisoner of a Book: How Coincidence and Otto Žitník Led Me to Giacometti
Author: Ladislav Gulyás, ⏱️ 3 minutes
Coincidence – Inspiration – Creation
"Your sculptures have a nice, elongated shape. Just like Giacometti..." – a Czech blacksmith, Otto Žitník, wrote to me a few years ago.
It was sometime in the spring of 2023, while I was intensively preparing for my exhibition 21 grams. That was the very first time I heard his name mentioned in connection with my own work. Although the name was not entirely foreign to me, I had never really taken a deeper interest in his art before.
A few years passed until I came across his piece – The Dog (1951) – in a sculpture book. I was utterly fascinated by it. I kept returning to the picture over and over again. On top of that, I began to study his work Walking Man I (1960). Both pieces embody an immense grandeur and the heavy burden of existentialism. A dog with no master. A walking man who has lost everything...
When a Story Captures You
I must admit that I always have several books on the go at once. Whether it is something about art or world classics such as Orwell, Márquez, Joyce, or Kafka.
There are books you simply do not want to finish. The story absorbs you so deeply that you become a voluntary prisoner of its pages. This is exactly what happened to me recently when this beautiful publication found its way into my hands. It was published on the occasion of the most comprehensive exhibition of Alberto Giacometti's works, held in Budapest in 2004.
The publication is masterfully cohesive. It offers the reader a comprehensive insight into the author's life and work. Starting from his early drawings all the way to a truly powerful, mature existentialism. However, we can also find abstract pieces here, such as Torso (1925 – 1926), the work Woman (1928 – 1929), as well as creations inspired by tribal art – The Couple (1926). It is not the kind of biography a 21st-century reader is used to. You will find no gossip suited for a tabloid front page. Just pure art. As pure and simple, yet as majestic, as the very life and works of Alberto Giacometti.
Fame in Spartan Conditions
Much has been written about Giacometti. Even though his life and work are thoroughly documented, I must highlight the fact that he became a myth, a living legend, during his own lifetime. In artistic circles, he was spoken of as one of the most prominent creators of the 20th century. The final years of his life were marked by a continuous cycle of exhibitions. The natural culmination of his mastery came in 1962, when he was awarded the grand prize for sculpture at the prestigious Venice Biennale.
Despite all of this, he remained incredibly humble. Until his death, he lived and worked in a tiny studio, often in truly spartan conditions. Throughout his life, he passed through several creative periods, but also severe crises when art simply would not flow. Yet, he was always able to overcome these difficult moments and express them through painting.
His close friends included giants like Pablo Picasso, Samuel Beckett, and Jean-Paul Sartre. However, neither this company nor his global fame ever went to his head. He remained a man you might walk past on the street without even noticing. Yet, his legacy in metal and matter remains impossible to miss – and to this day, it resonates within the walls of my blacksmith workshop.
Photo: Ladislav Gulyás Metal Studio