MoMA Announces The Encounter: Barbara Chase-Riboud/ Alberto Giacometti

Barbara Chase-Riboud with her sculptures and Alberto Giacometti’s.  © Succession Alberto Giacometti ADAGP Paris 2023 © Barbara Chase-Riboud.

Exhibition Brings Together Chase-Riboud’s Monumental Sculptures and Five of Giacometti’s Painted Plasters for the Femmes de Venise, Which Will Be Shown in the US for the First Time

The Museum of Modern Art announces The Encounter: Barbara Chase-Riboud/Alberto Giacometti, a focused exhibition developed in close collaboration with Chase-Riboud and the Giacometti Foundation, Paris, that pairs the pioneering work of two expatriates of different generations, who each have made lasting contributions to the field of sculpture. On view from May 5 through October 9, 2023, in Gallery 400, overlooking MoMA’s Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, the show explores the shared visual vocabulary of two sculptors whose respective work consistently returned to the human figure. The Encounter: Barbara Chase-Riboud/Alberto Giacometti is organized by Christophe Cherix, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art, and Emilie Bouvard, Scientific and Collections Director, Fondation Giacometti, Paris, with Danielle Johnson, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art. Special thanks to Erin Jenoa Gilbert, Director of Exhibitions, Publications and Acquisitions for Barbara Chase Riboud.

“The first time Chase-Riboud entered Giacometti’s studio, the 23-year-old artist had just relocated to Paris from Yale University. She never forgot her initial encounter with the famed sculptor, in 1962. As he was working on his plasters, she recalled a man who ‘was a walking Egyptian mummy, entirely white, covered in white plaster from his shoes to the Afro curly hair on his head.’ Their last encounter was in Milan. Today, more than 60 years later, Chase-Riboud finally returns Giacometti’s invitation, welcoming him to The Museum of Modern Art,” said exhibition curators Christophe Cherix and Emilie Bouvard.

The show uses the artists’ time in Paris—their adoptive city and the place where they shaped their artistic practices—as an avenue to examine new connections between their work. These sculptures reveal the rich mutual ground between both artists, including their mutual fascination with the art and architecture of ancient Egypt.

Rarely seen sculptures spanning over four decades of Chase-Riboud’s career—such as The Cape (1973), Zanzibar (1974), and Standing Black Woman of Venice (1969–2020)—will be on view. Said Chase-Riboud, “I think our civilization is minimal enough without underlining it. Sculpture as a created object in space should enrich, not reflect, and should be beautiful. Beauty is its function.” These sculptures will be on view alongside a number of important sculptures by Giacometti, including five plasters from his 1956 body of work Femmes de Venise (Women of Venice) that have never before been exhibited in the United States.

PUBLICATION:

A richly illustrated accompanying publication, Aberto Giacometti/Barbara Chase-Riboud, published by Éditions Fage, Lyon, and Fondation Giacometti, Paris, will be available in MoMA Design Stores. It includes essays by Catherine Grenier, Marta Kuzma, Émilie Bouvard, Claudine Armand, Christophe Cherix, Eva Barois de Caevel, Françoise Cachin, and Peter Selz.

ABOUT THE FONDATION GIACOMETTI

The Fondation Giacometti is a private foundation recognized as a state-approved institution and created in 2003. It is the universal legatee of Annette Giacometti, the artist’s widow, and owns the world’s largest collection of works by Alberto Giacometti, with nearly 10,000 works and objects that represent the artist’s entire career.

Located in Paris, the foundation is directed by Catherine Grenier, heritage general curator and art historian, and brings together a highly skilled team in the fields of cultural administration, conservation, art-historical research, education, and artist’s rights.

Based on this expertise and on its broad collection, the Fondation Giacometti aims to protect, disseminate, and promote the work of Giacometti. It organizes several international exhibitions a year and grants loans in France and abroad. The foundation is also responsible for the authentication committee of Alberto Giacometti’s work and compiles the catalogue raisonné of his work.

The Institut Giacometti is the current exhibition space of the Fondation Giacometti, which is also dedicated to art history research and education. fondation-giacometti.fr/

EXHIBITION SPONSORSHIP:

Leadership support for the exhibition is provided by Ronald S. and Jo Carole Lauder. Major funding is provided by Steven and Lisa Tananbaum.
Generous support is provided by the International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

Additional funding is provided by the Annual Exhibition Fund. Leadership contributions to the Annual Exhibition Fund, in support of the Museum’s collection and collection exhibitions, are generously provided by the Sandra and Tony Tamer Exhibition Fund, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, Eva and Glenn Dubin, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, Anne Dias, Kenneth C. Griffin, Alice and Tom Tisch, the Marella and Giovanni Agnelli Fund for Exhibitions, Mimi Haas, The David Rockefeller Council, The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Kathy and Richard S. Fuld, Jr., The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, and Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder. Major contributions to the Annual Exhibition Fund are provided by Emily Rauh Pulitzer, The Sundheim Family Foundation, and Karen and Gary Winnick.

EXHIBITION ORGANIZATION:

The exhibition is co-organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Fondation Giacometti, Paris.