Alberto Giacometti’s Walking Man I (L’Homme qui marche I) (1960) is one of modern art’s most famous figures. This 180 cm bronze – part of a planned Chase Manhattan Plaza commission – is often called “an icon of 20th century art” . Its spindly, anonymous form (no head or arms) expresses postwar existential angst: critics note Walking Man “symbolises an era… of psychological distress caused by war” . Jean-Paul Sartre even described Giacometti’s figures as personifications of an “existentialist humanity – alienated, solitary, lost in the world’s immensity” . (A precursory “Walking Woman” appeared in 1932, with Giacometti creating larger Walking Man versions by 1960 .) Giacometti’s statue achieved iconic status – it appears on Switzerland’s 100-franc note and a cast stands at UNESCO headquarters in Paris .
Auguste Rodin’s The Walking Man (L’Homme qui marche) is a bronze torsal figure begun c. 1878 and cast in 1907. With its head and arms deliberately omitted, Rodin’s Walking Man was celebrated as the “best example of [his] ‘sketchy’ impressionist sculpture” and his most famous “incomplete” figure . This partial human form focuses on dynamic motion – a radical break from academic statue. Today multiple casts exist: for example, one bronze cast is in the Norton Simon Art Foundation (Pasadena) and another at Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center . Rodin’s Walking Man thus stands alongside Giacometti’s as a seminal work of modern sculpture.
Books and Graphic Novels
- Jirō Taniguchi, The Walking Man (歩くひと, 1992) – A wordless Japanese graphic novel about a middle-aged salaryman who spends his free time strolling through his neighborhood. The story is essentially meditative: as he walks he “discovers the wonders to be found in his very own neighborhood” (for example, meeting a birdwatcher, rescuing a toy, etc.). Critics praise its poetic simplicity; it was nominated for a 2007 Eisner Award and described as “poetry or meditation” with comparisons to filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu .
- Franck Maubert, The Walking Man (L’Homme qui marche, 2018) – An art-essay (French) focusing on Giacometti’s sculpture. Maubert examines the origins and impact of Walking Man, calling it “possibly the most famous sculpture of the 20th century, a universal emblem of the human being” on which Giacometti worked relentlessly . The book traces how the statue transcends its post-WWII context to “dialogue” with ancient art and resonate with “men and women of today and tomorrow” .
Music (Songs and Albums)
- James Taylor – Walking Man (Album and title song, 1974): Taylor’s fifth studio album (folk-rock) featured the track “Walking Man.” Though the album lacked a major chart hit, the title song performed respectably on adult-contemporary charts and later appeared on his Greatest Hits (1976) .
Film and Television
“The Walking Man” appears in a few screen titles: for instance, Aruku Hito (The Walking Man, 2020) is a Japanese TV drama (NHK BS4K) adapting Taniguchi’s manga. Starring Arata Iura, it follows the silent businessman on his random urban strolls . In Europe, L’Homme qui marche (The Walking Man, 2007) is a French drama by Aurélia Georges that premiered at Cannes . There are also independent shorts: The Walking Man (2016) is a 5-minute film about a man quitting his job to roam homeless .
Cultural Symbolism of “The Walking Man”
- Existential/Modern Humanity: In art criticism, the “walking man” often symbolizes the modern human condition. As noted, Giacometti’s Walking Man epitomizes postwar alienation – an emblem of anxiety after World War II and the atomic age . Philosophers like Sartre viewed it as a literal embodiment of existential solitude (“alienated, solitary, lost in the world” ).
- Flâneur and Mindfulness: The lone pedestrian also evokes the literary flâneur – the city stroller described by Baudelaire. Baudelaire wrote that the destiny of every “walking man” is to immerse himself in his surroundings . Taniguchi’s manga exemplifies this: the protagonist’s quiet walks let him “indulge in simple pleasures” and notice everyday wonders , reflecting walking as meditation and attentiveness to life’s details.
- Iconic Pedestrian Symbol: The “walking man” is literally ubiquitous as a traffic signal. Berlin’s famous Ampelmännchen (East German pedestrian light figure) – a little man in a hat – is nicknamed “the walking man” and has become a pop-culture symbol of East German nostalgia . Its popularity (and that of similar icons worldwide) shows how the generic pedestrian silhouette has acquired cultural meaning beyond its practical use . In this way, the motif of the walking man ranges from high art to everyday street life as a symbol of human journey, freedom, and observation.
Sources: Scholarly and journalistic discussions of Giacometti and Rodin sculpture ; museum collection and exhibition records ; manga and literary critiques ; album reviews ; television and film listings ; cultural analyses of walking iconography .