Diego Giacometti: Designs Of Life

I n the Giacometti family, it was considered normal to have artistic talent. Giovanni Giacometti was a friend of the artist Ferdinand Hodler and an accomplished painter himself. Of his three sons, each would become an accomplished creator – Bruno, Alberto and Diego.

Diego (born 1902) was the middle child. Raised in the beautiful Swiss/Italian border town of Stampa, amidst the Engadin mountains, he grew up in rural simplicity, surrounded by forests, animals and nature, by his later recollections, a fairly idyllic, if emotionally turbulent, childhood.

After studying business in Basel and St Gallen, Diego headed to Paris aged 25, to join his elder brother Alberto, and immerse himself in the colourful whirl of the city, then at the height of its roaring 20s cosmopolitanism. Alberto was studying under the master sculptor Antoine Bourdelle at the Academy of the Grand Chaumière and already creating exciting, raw and original new forms. Meanwhile, brother Diego was entranced by the new possibilities being articulated by Marcel Duchamp and his ready-mades, as well as the Surrealists, with their caustic humour and unashamed assertions of freedom.

The impact of the Surrealists resonated down the years - later in his career, Diego’s work would return time and again to ideas he picked up during this era – such as using bicycle cords, hooks and ropes in his pieces, combined with the wild animals he recalled from his childhood.

In a move that would refine his sense of proportion and space, Diego began working for renowned interior designer Jean-Michel Frank, alongside Alberto, after which Diego and Alberto began collaborating closely, a close fraternal relationship which lasted to the latter’s death in 1966.

The Giacometti brothers worked together, in a studio space at 46 rue Hippolyte-Maindron. As well as executing commissions from clients and building up Alberto’s own artistic practise, Diego started experimenting with etiolated animal forms, semi-abstract visual concepts and various materials, such as bronze and lost-waxing techniques.

The magic of Diego’s vision, his artistry and grounding in concepts ranging from interior design to surrealism, resulted in a timeless oeuvre of Renaissance proportions, where sculpture and function can go hand in hand.

Past Auction

Important Design

23 November 2021 | 2:30 PM CET | Paris