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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/alberto-giacometti-1159" aria-label="More by Alberto Giacometti" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Alberto Giacometti</a>
Man Pointing
Purchased 1949
abstraction
actions: expressive
actions: postures and motions
adults
figure
from recognisable sources
man
people
pointing
standing
<p><span>Man Pointing</span> was made very rapidly for Giacometti’s first exhibition in New York. He recalled: ‘I did that piece in one night between midnight and nine the next morning. That is, I’d already done it, but I demolished it and did it all over again because the men from the foundry were coming to take it away. And when they got here, the plaster was still wet.’ It was originally intended to be part of a larger composition, with the left arm positioned loosely around a second figure. Giacometti later abandoned the idea, and considered <span>Man Pointing</span> to be a complete work.</p><p><em>Gallery label, July 2012</em></p>
sculpture bronze
24 September 2001 – 9 December 2001
2001-12-09
24 September 2001 – 9 December 2001
2001-12-09
2001-09-24
Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts (Norwich, UK)
2001-09-24
Alberto Giacometti
Loan-out
11 February 2002 – 21 April 2002
2002-04-21
11 February 2002 – 21 April 2002
2002-04-21
2002-02-11
Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery (Norwich, UK)
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk
2002-02-11
The Body in the Twentieth Century
Tate partnerships & programmes
22 April 2002 – 25 August 2002
2002-08-25
22 April 2002 – 25 August 2002
2002-08-25
2002-04-22
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2002-04-22
Upright Figure
Collection based display
5 April 2004 – 3 July 2005
2005-07-03
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2004-04-05
Giacometti/Dubuffet
Collection based display
15 September 2007 – 31 March 2009
2009-03-31
15 September 2007 – 31 March 2009
2009-03-31
2007-09-15
Tate Liverpool (Liverpool, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/liverpool/
2007-09-15
Images of Man
Collection based display
31 May 2009 – 11 October 2009
2009-10-11
31 May 2009 – 11 October 2009
2009-10-11
2009-05-31
Fondation Beyeler (Riehen/Basel, Switzerland)
http://www.beyeler.com
2009-05-31
Giacometti
Loan-out
16 July 2011 – 2 October 2011
2011-10-02
16 July 2011 – 2 October 2011
2011-10-02
2011-07-16
Nottingham Contemporary (Nottingham, UK)
http://www.nottinghamcontemporary.org/
2011-07-16
Giacometti
Loan-out
21 July 2012 – 30 November 2014
2014-11-30
21 July 2012 – 30 November 2014
2014-11-30
2012-07-21
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2012-07-21
New Images of Man
Collection based display
10 May 2017 – 10 September 2017
2017-09-10
10 May 2017 – 10 September 2017
2017-09-10
2017-05-10
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2017-05-10
Alberto Giacometti
Exhibition
8 February 2018 – 24 February 2019
2019-02-24
8 February 2018 – 19 May 2018
2018-05-19
2018-02-08
Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Québec, Canada)
http://www.mnba.qc.ca
8 June 2018 – 16 September 2018
2018-09-16
2018-06-08
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, USA)
19 October 2018 – 24 February 2019
2019-02-24
2018-10-19
Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain)
2018-02-08
Alberto Giacometti
Loan-out
8 February 2018 – 24 February 2019
2019-02-24
8 February 2018 – 19 May 2018
2018-05-19
2018-02-08
Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Québec, Canada)
http://www.mnba.qc.ca
8 June 2018 – 16 September 2018
2018-09-16
2018-06-08
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, USA)
19 October 2018 – 24 February 2019
2019-02-24
2018-10-19
Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao, Spain)
2018-02-08
Giacometti. Retrospective
Loan-out
Man Pointing
object: 1780 × 950 × 520 mm
Purchased 1949
<div class="text">
<p>
<i>Man Pointing</i> was made very rapidly for Giacometti’s first exhibition in New York. He recalled: ‘I did that piece in one night between midnight and nine the next morning. That is, I’d already done it, but I demolished it and did it all over again because the men from the foundry were coming to take it away. And when they got here, the plaster was still wet.’ It was originally intended to be part of a larger composition, with the left arm positioned loosely around a second figure. Giacometti later abandoned the idea, and considered <i>Man Pointing</i> to be a complete work.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2012-07-27T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<strong>Alberto Giacometti</strong> 1901-1966
<p>
<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/giacometti-man-pointing-n05939" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N05939</span></a> <strong>Homme signalent</strong> (Man pointing) 1947
</p><p>
Inscribed 'A. Giacometti 3/6' on upper surface of base and 'Alexis. Rudier | Fondeur. Paris' back of base<br/>
Bronze, 70 x 35 1/2 x 24 1/2 (178 x 90.2 x 62.2)<br/>
Purchased from the artist (Knapping Fund) 1949<br/>
<em>Exh:</em> <em>Alberto Giacometti: Sculpture, Paintings, Drawings</em>, Arts Council Gallery, London, June-July 1955 (15, detail repr.); <em>Alberto Giacometti</em>, Kunsthalle, Bern, June-July 1956 (18, repr.); XXXI Biennale, Venice, June- October 1962 (Giacometti 82); <em>Alberto Giacometti</em>, Kunsthaus, Zurich, December 1962-January 1963 (29, repr.); <em>Alberto Giacometti: Sculpture Pantings Drawings 1913-65</em>, Tate Gallery, July-August 1965 (33, plaster repr.); <em>Alberto Giacometti</em>, Orangerie des Tuileries, Paris, October 1969-January 1970 (48, repr.)<br/>
<em>Lit:</em> James Lord, <em>A Giacometti Portrait</em> (New York 1965), p.34; Reinhold Hohl, <em>Alberto Giacometti: Sculpture Painting Drawing</em> (London 1972), pp.135-9, 302, repr. p.117<br/>
<em>Repr:</em> Andrew Carnduff Ritchie, <em>Sculpture of the Twentieth Century</em> (New York 1952), p.210; John Rothenstein, <em>The Tate Gallery</em> (London 1958), pl.23
</p><p>
This is one of several <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/sculpture" title="Glossary definition for 'Sculpture'"><span>sculptures</span></a> made very quickly for inclusion in Giacometti's first New York exhibition at the Pierre Matisse Gallery in January-February 1948. Giacometti told James Lord in 1964: 'I did that piece in one night between midnight and nine the next morning. That is, I'd already done it, but I demolished it and did it all over again because the men from the foundry were coming to take it away. And when they got here, the <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/plaster-of-paris" title="Glossary definition for 'Plaster of Paris'"><span>plaster</span></a> was still wet.'
</p><p>
In 1951 he made a second male figure - very upright, with arms to the sides - as a companion piece, and the group was exhibited in 1951 at the Galerie Maeght as 'Groupe 2 Hommes' 1947-51. The pointing man had one arm loosely round the second figure, and with the pointing finger was <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawing</span></a> his companion's attention to something in the distance. (Cf. <em>Cahiers d'Art</em>, 1951, pp.76 and 88 for <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/photograph" title="Glossary definition for 'Photograph'"><span>photographs</span></a>). But whereas the pointing man was in <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/metal" title="Glossary definition for 'Metal'"><span>bronze</span></a>, the new figure was only in plaster.
</p><p>
When asked whether he had intended a two-figure group from the beginning, Giacometti replied as follows (letter of 20 October 1953):
</p><p>
'<em>As for the sculpture of the pointing man</em> of 1947 I wanted from the start to make a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>composition</span></a> of two figures, but when the first was made (that of the Tate Gallery) it was entirely impossible for me to make the second and I didn't even begin it. It was not until 1951 that I had the urge to try to make it and the plaster figure was exhibited at Maeght's in my exhibition of 1951. It was not what I wanted and immediately after the exhibition I <em>destroyed</em> the plaster figure which was never <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/cast" title="Glossary definition for 'Cast'"><span>cast</span></a> in bronze, <em>it therefore no longer exists</em> and I have since completely abandoned the idea of making it. Therefore the first figure: the pointing man will remain on its own.'
</p><p>
Reinhold Hohl points out that this sculpture is directly related to the 'Mannequin' of 1933 ('both describe space through a figure which marks the limits of its presence with an extended, space-encompassing arm') and that Ernst Scheidigger's well-known photograph of 'Man Pointing' standing at the intersection of the Rue Hippolyte-Maindron and the Rue du Moulin Vert (very near Giacometti's studio) gives the impression of a policeman on traffic duty - perhaps with Giacometti's consent.
</p><p>
<strong>Published in:</strong><br/>
Ronald Alley, <em>Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists</em>, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981, p.278, reproduced p.278

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</p>
Catalogue entry
2004-09-14T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
abstraction actions: expressive actions: postures and motions adults figure from recognisable sources man people pointing standing