A Giacometti Portrait

Giacometti was born in Switzerland and later became a student of the arts. He traveled to Paris in his early twenties and became a painter, sculptor, and printmaker. Throughout his life and work, he focused on three themes: standing women, busts, and a man in motion. He experimented with surrealism and cubism and kept a riotously colorful list of acquaintances and contemporaries including Picasso and Miró. In many ways, Giacometti was the perfect subject for a study on the creative process. He was bohemian but still driven. James Lord, an author, agreed to sit for a portrait by the artist for 18 days—recording not only Giacometti's daily activity but also his tics, neuroses, passions—anything that might be related to his creative process.