Giacometti was born is Borgonovo, Switzerland in 1901. He was really creative and he went to art school in Geneva, Switzerland and Paris, France. He is best known for making large, thin sculptures of people. He was inspired by Cubism (an abstract art style which often shows people from lots of different angles) and Surrealism.

We are going to do some drawing experiments inspired by Giacometti!

First, some wise words from the man himself...

• Paper
• Pencils and pens
• Old magazines and newspapers

Giacometti experimented with using human bodies and heads to create landscapes. In a sculpture called The Forest, he used women to represent the trees and heads of the men to represent the stones.

To create your own landscape of faces carefully cut out heads, bodies and faces from old magazines and newspapers.

Now draw a simple landscape, like the one below, on a piece of paper. Place the bodies and heads onto the paper to make a forest of people.

Giacometti captured movement in his sculpture. It often looks like people have been frozen in time.

Can you draw figures doing the following movements?

• Running
• Waving
• Walking
• Pointing
• Spinning

During the Second World War Giacometti made artwork in his hotel room in Geneva, Switzerland. He made lots of tiny sculptures (some only 2cm tall!) and took them home in tiny matchboxes.

Take a big piece of paper and drawing lots of small boxes on it (like the picture above). Once you have drawn all your matchboxes fill the boxes with the following objects.

• A plane
• A monster
• A city
• A big sandwich
• A dinosaur
• A museum
• A bug
• A whale
• A skinny dog (like the one below!)

Fancy more activities like this or do you want to see some real Giacometti artwork? Check these links out with a parent or guardian:

Find other activities like this in the Meet the Artist: Alberto Giacometti book.