Giacometti's first period of extraordinary creativity began in 1927;
Another example is Giacometti's 1925 Torso,
which marked his movement to simplified forms and inspiration from preclassical sculpture.
After the crisis period, Giacometti continued to suffer deeply
but his work in all media became stronger, especially from 1959-1962.
During the post-war period of intense productivity, Giacometti drew constantly and painted regularly after a hiatus of 20 years.
Gradually, however, Giacometti experienced increasing anxieties about his inability to accomplish fully
in his work what he set out to do.
Continuing his narrowly prescribed formats in sculpture and painting,
primarily busts and standing female nudes, Giacometti worked steadily during the 1950s.
Giacometti's first period of significant creativity began in 1927
and over the next seven years, he created sculptures in a wide variety of styles.
On a more philosophical level, critics also viewed Giacometti's art as Existentialist,
an interpretation introduced by Sartre in his two essays on Giacometti's art(1948 and 1954).
Once Uncle Julian told me how the sculptor and
painter Alberto Giacometti said that sometimes just to paint a head
you have to give up the whole figure.
Only after his return to Paris in late 1945 were Giacometti's frustrated efforts redirected into producing his mature style,
and so began his second phase of intense creativity.
The plaques reflect a new conceptual approach
to sculptural form and space, as Giacometti reduced a head or figure to a
few highly abstracted elements on the surface of a flat rectangle.