Diego Giacometti - Design Masters New York Tuesday, December 13, 2011 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • Provenance

    Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York; Sr. Moises Stoliar, Buenos Aires

  • Literature

    Michel Butor, Diego Giacometti, Paris, 1985, pp. 136–137 for a similar example; Daniel Marchesseau, Diego Giacometti, Paris, 1986, p. 117 for an early bronze sculpture of the couple and p. 169 for a similar example

  • 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.

    View More Works

PROPERTY OF A EUROPEAN COLLECTOR

15

“Lustre aux Acrobates” ceiling fixture

ca. 1978
Patinated bronze.
44 5/8 in. (113.3 cm.) drop, 22 1/4 in. (56.5 cm.) diameter
Reverse incised with “Diego.” Together with a letter of authenticity from James Lord.

Estimate
$80,000 - 120,000 

Design Masters

13 December 2011
New York