Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist; Christie's, Art Impressionniste et Moderne, Paris, May 23, 2007, Lot 128; L'Arc en Seine, Paris
Literature
Michel Butor, Diego Giacometti, Paris, 1985, p. 33 for similar decorative tree motifs; Daniel Marchesseau, Diego Giacometti, Paris, 1986, p. 92
Catalogue Essay
Is that the sun setting below trees or the moon rising through them? Regardless, it’s a crepuscular scene: the transition to dusk. Four cypresses catch the eye, but an owl enlivens at left, subverting their certainty—and ours. Although fixed in bronze, the bronze furniture of Swiss sculptor Diego Giacometti is never fixed; it moves from the memory of his hand, always evident along his trembling silhouettes and in the molded ornaments animating them: birds in flight; mice nibbling cheese; horses stretching necks; budding leaves.

“The mournful cypress rises round / Tapering from the burial-ground,” wrote the Roman poet Lucan two thousand years ago (Frances Osgood ed., The Poetry of Flowers, New York, 1848, p. 161). Around 1978, as he approached his own twilight, Giacometti cast “Hommage à Böcklin” in tribute to Swiss symbolist painter Arnold Böcklin (1827-1901), whose dreamlike landscapes and voluptuous allegories seethe with mystery and dread. In Böcklin’s famous “Island of the Dead (Die Toteninsel),” painted in five versions between 1880 and 1886, a shrouded widow in a boat bears her husband’s coffin across a dark strait; his tomb yawns on a distant outcrop sheltered by cypresses.

As Frances Osgood reminds us, “The cypress is the universal emblem of mourning…” (New York, 1848, p. 161). Cypress and owl herald the night— but it’s not yet dark. The carcass of Giacometti’s table, like an austere rock formation, holds in its precincts irrepressible life: a bower of trees, the heart of the sun, and everywhere the warbling hand of the artist.
Artist Biography
Diego Giacometti
Swiss • 1902 - 1985
In 1935 Diego Giacometti took a holiday in Stampa, the Swiss town in which he grew up. The trip marked one of the first periods in which he was separated from his brother Alberto Giacometti, and perhaps in connection with having removed himself from the shadow of his brother's career, he began his first animal sculptures. It was shortly after this trip that the younger Giacometti also started making furniture, after patrons admired the stands he was crafting for his brother's sculptures. Diego modeled his maquettes in plaster (as opposed to clay or wax, which was the more common choice for sculptors) and cast his furniture in bronze, a departure from most metal furniture at the time, which was cast in iron. Illustrious clients included the Maeght and Noailles families as well as the decorator Jean-Michel Frank, who commissioned Alberto (assisted by Diego) to create plaster lighting and fireplace accessories.
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21

Diego Giacometti

“Hommage à Böcklin” console

ca. 1978
Patinated bronze, glass, gilt bronze.
35 1/2 x 47 7/8 x 13 1/4 in. (90.2 x 121.6 x 33.7 cm).

Estimate
$150,000 - 200,000

Sold for $602,500

The Collection of Halsey Minor

13 May 2010
New York

1
Richard Prince
Untitled (Almost Original)
Estimate $60,000 - 80,000
Sold for $182,500
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2
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Black Butterfly over Lime)
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $362,500
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3
Florian Maier-Aichen
Untitled (Mount Wilson)
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $158,500
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4
Marc Newson
Prototype “Lockheed Lounge”
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
Sold for $2,098,500
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5
Takashi Murakami
Flower Ball (3-D) Kindergarten
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $602,500
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6
Marc Newson
Prototype “Pod of Drawers”
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
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7
Ed Ruscha
Higher Standards/Lower Prices
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Sold for $1,426,500
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8
Richard Prince
Nurse in Hollywood #4
Estimate $5,000,000 - 7,000,000
Sold for $6,466,500
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9
Charlotte Perriand
Important “Bibliotheque Murale,”
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $314,500
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10
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (White Butterfly MG01)
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $1,426,500
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11
George Nakashima
Exceptional free-form “Minguren I” coffee table
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $86,500
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12
Ed Ruscha
Angry Because It’s Plaster, Not Milk
Estimate $2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Sold for $3,218,500
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13
John Baldessari
Two Cars, One Red, in Different Environments
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $338,500
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14
Marc Newson
“Orgone Stretch Lounge”
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
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15
Richard Prince
The Chatterbox Hotel
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $902,500
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16
Florian Maier-Aichen
Above June Lake
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $152,500
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17
Marc Newson
“Event Horizon Table"
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $242,500
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18
Takashi Murakami
PO + KU Surrealism Mr. DOB –Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink
Estimate $700,000 - 1,000,000
Sold for $602,500
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19
John Baldessari
Pink Pig, 2305 Highland Ave., National City, Calif.
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
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20
Walton Ford
Loss of the Lisbon Rhinoceros
Estimate $550,000 - 750,000
Sold for $1,022,500
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21
Diego Giacometti
“Hommage à Böcklin” console
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $602,500
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22
Ed Ruscha
Long, Stormy
Estimate $800,000 - 1,200,000
Sold for $842,500
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The Collection of Halsey Minor

13 May 2010 New York

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Provenance

Literature

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Diego Giacometti

21

Diego Giacometti

“Hommage à Böcklin” console

The Collection of Halsey Minor

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13 May 2010
New York