Giacometti and Strömholm: Portraits of an Era

In the late 1950s, James Lord invited the author to visit Alberto Giacometti's studio on rue Gassendi, but the author never went, paralyzed by admiration. They finally spoke at Galerie Pierre in 1962, where Giacometti advised, 'Never tell stories.' The author often saw Giacometti at Adrien, a bar in Montparnasse, where he would sit alone sketching in his journal. Meanwhile, Christer Strömholm photographed transvestites in Pigalle. The author met Strömholm around 1950 and they traveled together in the Swedish tundra. In 1992, a final monograph of Strömholm's work was published in Sweden, pairing images page by page. Page 115 features a 'magical' Duchamp, shirtless and gaunt. Page 114 shows Strömholm's photograph of Giacometti's studio, taken with a Leica and Kodak Tri X film. The image captures Giacometti through a window, holding a cigarette and a phone, absorbed in thought, with plaster female figures in the dark background. Page 148 depicts a woman's buttocks and vulva, with the anus exactly centered, just before the transvestite portraits.