Paris, France — They are in agreement, « everything revolves around the human body. » They are the Pakistani-American contemporary artist Huma Bhabha and the great 20th century master Alberto Giacometti. And their works engage in engaging encounters at an exhibition being played out at the Institut Giacometti. The show features major new works by Bhabha specifically designed for the Institut Giacometti like two stunning standing figures, sculpted heads, sculptures with the appearance of fragments of bodies as well as drawings and photographs juxtaposed with the all-time Giacometti greats: Walking Man, Standing Woman and Large Head. The artists have been in a dialogue before at the Barbican Center in 2025 in a show entitled “Nothing is Behind Us”. 

The Paris show has an immensely poetic title: « “And loose the loved one’s tresses knot by knot. Or e’er the knots your limbs bind, rend apart.” Which is an extract from a quatrain (Quatrain 449) by the Persian poet Omar Khayyam (1048-1131). Huma Bhabha, who lives and works in Poughkeepsie, New York in the scenic Hudson Valley, has long been interested in Giacometti’s work and she creates assemblages with works in clay, cork and bronze allowing the human forms to emerge, expressive human forms. 

“In 1998, I saw a big retrospective of sculptures and paintings by Giacometti which greatly impressed me. At that time, I had not started to sculpt and model with clay myself, so the connection I felt with him was more that of a voyeur. I had not realized yet how much I could take or learn from his unique technique and style. It took another three years before I first tried my hand at making a clay foot,” said Huma Bhabha in an interview with Emilie Bouvard.

The Institut Giacometti is part of the Fondation Giacometti devoted to exhibitions and research in art history and pedagogy. Alberto Giacometti’s mythical studio, whose elements in their entirety, had been kept by his widow, Annette Giacometti, is on permanent display at the Institute. Conferences, workshops and guided tours are all on the agenda with guided visits in English on Saturdays and Sundays at 11am. The current exhibition is accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue in a bilingual French/English edition. The Institute, which has an eclectic program of performances and conferences, is open Tuesdays to Sundays, from 11am until 6pm. The Huma Bhabha/Giacometti exhibition is on until May 24th to be followed by a show devoted Giacometti and Surrealism, opening on June 5th. https://www.fondation-giacometti.fr/en 5 rue Victor-Schoelcher, 75014 Paris, France, +33 (0)1 44 54 52 44. ©Trish Valicenti for The Gourmet Gazette