Book Talk: Your Alberto—Time Passes Too Soon

Discover a collection of Alberto Giacometti’s previously unpublished letters to his parents from throughout his career.

The Alliance Française de Chicago is honored to partner with the Consulate General of Switzerland in Chicago, the Italian Cultural Center, and the Swiss Benevolent Society on Your Alberto, a series exploring Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti.

Following our screening of Susanna Fanzun’s 2023 documentary I Giacometti (The Giacomettis) on October 8, join us for a special program on Alberto Giacometti: Time Passes Too Soon—Family Letters. Translator Alta L. Price will discuss the book and read excerpts, after which she’ll be joined in conversation by Donato Loia, Postdoctoral Researcher and Instructor in Art & Religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School.

The program will be followed by a book signing and reception featuring complimentary Swiss wine and hors d’oeuvres, where guests will have the chance to meet the translator, purchase the book and have it signed, and mix and mingle with their fellow art lovers.

Doors at 6:00 p.m. Program at 6:30. Please enter via 54 W Chicago Ave. *Non-alcoholic options will be available. Copies of Time Passes Too Soon will be available for purchase from our partners at The Book Stall.

About the Book

Alberto Giacometti: Time Passes Too Soon—Family Letters

Alberto Giacometti (1901–66), one of the most significant figures in twentieth-century art, was closely attached to his family—particularly his parents, Giovanni and Annetta Giacometti—in their native Swiss village of Stampa. Regardless of his whereabouts, he wrote to his parents at least once a week to keep them up to date on everything important to him. Their entire correspondence comprises more than one thousand letters.

For the first time, excerpts from this body of documents are published together in one volume. They reveal fascinating insights into this close family relationship and core issues of Giacometti’s life and work as an artist. The letters describe his artistic education in Switzerland and early years in Paris: his studies at the art academy; encounters with the avant-garde; and his joining with and later turning away from the Surrealist movement. They also highlight his search for a new figuration between 1935 and 1946. This book provides entirely new knowledge about the evolution and circumstances of one of modernity’s great artists.

About the Translator

Photo © Beowulf Sheehan

Alta L. Price runs a publishing consultancy specialized in literature and nonfiction texts on art, architecture, design, and culture. Alta translates from Italian and German into English, and works with experienced colleagues for many other languages. If you’re concerned about what might be lost in translation, Alta will gladly speak with you about the many things this sometimes mysterious process can help you gain.

About the Moderator

Donato Loia

Donato Loia received his PhD in Modern & Contemporary Art at the University of Texas at Austin and was the 2019-2020 Vivian L. Smith Foundation Fellow at the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas. His work has appeared in Visual Studies, Studies in Philosophy and Education, Aztlán: A Journal of Chicano Studies, Mise-en-Scène: The Journal of Film and Visual Narration, among other publications. His dissertation, titled “Beyond the Light: Visual Studies on the Presence of the Sacred in the Absence of God,” brings together themes of art, religiosity, and secularity in the twenty-first century. Formerly a Visiting Assistant Professor at the School of Art Institute of Chicago, Donato is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher and Instructor in Art & Religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School.