Diego Giacometti - Design London Wednesday, April 25, 2012 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Private collection, Paris
    Galerie Vallois, Paris
    Walter Hass, Zurich
    Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg, New York

  • Literature

    Daniel Marchesseau, Diego Giacometti, Paris, 1986, p. 124
    Françoise Francisi, Diego Giacometti: Catalogue de l’oeuvre, Volume I, Paris, 1986, n.p.
    François Baudot, Diego Giacometti, Paris, 1998, p. 25
    Christian Boutonnet and Rafael Ortiz, Diego Giacometti, Paris, 2003, p. 95

  • 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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2

‘L’autruche’

circa 1977
Patinated bronze, ostrich egg.
19 7/8 in (50.5 cm) high
Underside of tail impressed with ‘DIEGO’. Together with a copy of the purchase invoice from Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg.

Estimate
£40,000 - 50,000 ‡♠

Sold for £58,850

Design

26 April 2012
London