Analysis of Alberto Giacometti's "L'Homme au doigt"

September 24, 2019

The open form sculpture “Man Pointing” by Alberto Giacometti features a humanoid figure that is dark in color and thin in shape. At first glance one would think the sculpture is simply pointing at another piece of art in the room; seeming to say look here, look here and see this. The sculptures left arm beckons you while the right arm points to something that could either be up or far away.

Due to the body language of the sculpture your eyes are pulled away from some of the main features of the sculpture itself. One of these features is how the face shaped and seems to be molded into something, yet at the same time seems to be featureless and anonymous. Being featureless and seemingly anonymous it makes you feel as if it altogether insignificant to the piece.

Another significant feature of the sculpture is its mass. The body of the sculpture is thin, frail even. It seems that it could easily be broken and snapped at the slightest of mishandling. Due to the small shape of the body, while it is tall, it does not take up much of our visual area. This helps the sculpture to direct our eyes away from it.

Overall the sculpture seems to do anything but draw your attention. From the face to the body your attention is being directed elsewhere. Even the color of the sculpture is dark, and uninviting to look at. Due to the entirety of the sculpture it does a very good job of drawing attention to the things around it.