Alberto Giacometti Swiss, 1901–1966
Isaku Yanaihara
1956
Alberto Giacometti's portrait of the Japanese philosopher Isaku Yanaihara (1918–1989), painted in a series of sittings between 1956 and 1961. Yanaihara became one of Giacometti's most obsessive late subjects — scraped down and repainted endlessly, until the face became a gaunt, existential question mark against the grey Parisian studio ground. Held at the Art Institute of Chicago, the picture is a touchstone of Giacometti's post-war reduction of the human figure to essence.
Exhibition Venue
Image source: Art Institute of Chicago