Brief Review

Visual Arts

The precursor of surrealism, the Dada movement, developed in Switzerland after World War I. Probably the two most well-known artists to come from Switzerland were Alberto Giacometti (1901-66), a Surrealist sculptor and painter known for his thin, elongated figures which expressed the fragility of existence, and Paul Klee (1879-1940), a Swiss-born German whose paintings exhibited elements of Expressionism and Cubism, though he retained a style uniquely his own. The modern architect LeCorbusier was born in Switzerland though left the country when he was 20. He returned during World War I and explored architectural styles there, then moved back to Paris after the war, where he became a French citizen in 1930.

The film industry in Switzerland is a small one, as it is costly to produce films in three different languages and there is not enough state subsidised support to develop it properly. Probably the most famous Swiss director is Jean-Luc Godard who was born in Paris to Swiss parents and spent much of his youth in Switzerland before returning to France to develop his filmmaking talents. There are few well-known Swiss films, the most famous probably being 1978’sThe Swissmakers (Die Schweizermacher), by Rolf Lyssy. The story, a comedic satire, concerns the trials and tribulations of foreigners who wish to become Swiss citizens.