The Encounter: Barbara Chase-Riboud/Alberto Giacometti

The Museum of Modern Art announces The Encounter: Barbara Chase-Riboud/Alberto Giacometti, a focused exhibition developed in close collaboration with Chase-Riboud and the Giacometti Foundation, Paris, that pairs the pioneering work of two expatriates of different generations, who each have made lasting contributions to the field of sculpture. On view from May 5 through October 9, 2023, in Gallery 400, overlooking MoMA’s Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden, the show explores the shared visual vocabulary of two sculptors whose respective work consistently returned to the human figure.

The show uses the artists’ time in Paris—their adoptive city and the place where they shaped their artistic practices—as an avenue to examine new connections between their work. These sculptures reveal the rich mutual ground between both artists, including their mutual fascination with the art and architecture of ancient Egypt.

Rarely seen sculptures spanning over four decades of Chase-Riboud’s career—such as The Cape (1973), Zanzibar (1974), and Standing Black Woman of Venice (1969–2020)—will be on view. Said Chase-Riboud, “I think our civilization is minimal enough without underlining it. Sculpture as a created object in space should enrich, not reflect, and should be beautiful. Beauty is its function.” These sculptures will be on view alongside a number of important sculptures by Giacometti, including five plasters from his 1956 body of work Femmes de Venise (Women of Venice) that have never before been exhibited in the United States.

The Encounter: Barbara Chase-Riboud/Alberto Giacometti is organized by Christophe Cherix, The Robert Lehman Foundation Chief Curator of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art, and Emilie Bouvard, Scientific and Collections Director, Fondation Giacometti, Paris, with Danielle Johnson, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Drawings and Prints, The Museum of Modern Art. Special thanks to Erin Jenoa Gilbert, Director of Exhibitions, Publications and Acquisitions for Barbara Chase Riboud.

Leadership support for the exhibition is provided by Ronald S. and Jo Carole Lauder.

Major funding is provided by Steven and Lisa Tananbaum.

Generous support is provided by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art.

Additional funding is provided by the Annual Exhibition Fund. Leadership contributions to the Annual Exhibition Fund, in support of the Museum’s collection and collection exhibitions, are generously provided by the Sandra and Tony Tamer Exhibition Fund, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley, Eva and Glenn Dubin, the Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, Anne Dias, Kenneth C. Griffin, Alice and Tom Tisch, the Marella and Giovanni Agnelli Fund for Exhibitions, Mimi Haas, The David Rockefeller Council, The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Kathy and Richard S. Fuld, Jr., The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, and Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder. Major contributions to the Annual Exhibition Fund are provided by Emily Rauh Pulitzer, The Sundheim Family Foundation, and Karen and Gary Winnick.

The exhibition is co-organized by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Fondation Giacometti, Paris.