Giacometti attracts almost 19,000

7 March 2007

Giacometti attracts almost 19,000

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu’s exclusive summer exhibition Giacometti: sculptures, prints and drawings from the Maeght Foundation drew an audience of almost 19,000.

During the three months the exhibition was in Christchurch, 18,818 visitors viewed the sculptures, prints and drawings depicting the elongated figures for which he is most renowned.

Gallery director Jenny Harper said she was very pleased with the visitor response to the exhibition – the first time a major exhibition of Giacometti’s life and art has been exhibited in the southern hemisphere.

“Christchurch audiences were given a unique opportunity to see Giacometti’s art installed here and I am thrilled that so many Cantabrians and visitors to the city took the opportunity to see the exhibition.

“Giacometti: sculptures, prints and drawings from the Maeght Foundation is unquestionably the most important solo exhibition of sculpture to be seen in New Zealand in the last 50 years.”

Ms Harper said that by attending in large numbers Cantabrians had shown they were interested in international exhibitions of this type.

“With Giacometti we have certainly demonstrated that our people are keen to view such exhibitions. Our numbers were only 10,000 fewer than at Sydney which has a much larger population base from which to draw its visitors.

“It is important to have a success like this so that the Gallery can continue to attract exhibitions of the same high calibre as the Giacometti.”

Giacometti: sculptures, prints and drawings from the Maeght Foundation was developed by the Art Gallery of New South Wales and is drawn from the collection of the Maeght Foundation in Saint Paul-de-Vence, France. It featured 35 sculptures, 22 drawings and 22 prints. It opened to the public on 17 November 2006 and closed on 25 February 2007.

ENDS.

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