Property from the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection, Sold to Benefit the Nasher Sculpture Center

Diego Giacometti (1902-1985)

Guéridon-arbre au hibou

Details

Diego Giacometti (1902-1985)
Guéridon-arbre au hibou
stamped 'DIEGO' and with monogram 'DG' (on the crossbrace)
bronze with green and brown patina and glass top
Height: 27 in. (68.6 cm.)
Length: 26 1/8 in. (66.4 cm.)
Conceived circa 1980; this bronze version cast by 1983

Provenance

Acquired from the artist by the late owners, 1983.

Literature

M. Butor, Diego Giacometti, Paris, 1986, p. 69 (another cast illustrated).
F. Francisci, Diego Giacometti, Catalogue de l'oeuvre, Paris, 1986, vol. I, p. 67 (another cast illustrated).
D. Marchesseau, Diego Giacometti, New York, 1986, p. 152 (another cast illustrated).

Lot Essay

Diego's earliest stone sculptures, dating from 1935, depict animal motifs, lions and serpents among them. Though Diego would return to animal imagery throughout his career, he was drawn most of all to birds, in time consecrating "a cult to [them], who multiplied on his leaf-tables and his tree-pedestal tables. It was a bird, heavenly messenger, that he carved in low relief and modeled in the round on his father's and brother's tombs" (D. Marchesseau, op. cit., p. 20).

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