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The jovial animal silhouettes and twisting flora that we see within Diego Giacometti’s bronze furniture show the influence that the mythological and dreamlike world of his countryside childhood had on his creativity. Born in the small Swiss alpine village of Borgonovo, Diego Giacometti was immediately immersed into a world of nature, animals and landscape. Diego spent much of his childhood exploring the local area making plaster models of the wildlife that surrounded him; both on the family farm and in the neighbouring Grisons Mountains, where the Giacometti family moved a few years after his birth. Continually molding and reworking the plaster, Diego would give energy and importance to the everyday farmyard animals and a sense of wildness and wonder to the creatures living in the forests. Humorous narratives are witnessed throughout Giacometti’s works, as seen in La promenade des amis where under the console, a horse and some dogs meet under a tree, their actions clearly express the fun and enjoyment which Diego had in sculpting them. Vine-like joins and textures in the cross bars of his chairs and tables reflect an Art Nouveau appreciation of the beauty of the natural form. Diego’s fascination with the natural world and animal kingdom expanded past the farmyard walls and mountain passes to cover a variety of characters including the ostrich in his sculpture L’Autruche. Originally a solution to a friend’s dilemma of how to store and present an ostrich egg, L’ Autruche shows Giacometti’s natural dexterity in bringing life to a series of bronze lines and forms and thus capturing the exact movement and personality of the bird’s iconic posture. Sharing a studio in Paris with his brother Alberto, their working relationship was so close that it is, at times, difficult to distinguish between the two. But it was only after the death of Alberto in 1966 that Diego became celebrated in his own right, producing commissions for such distinguished patrons as the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the Chagall Museum in Nice, and the Picasso Museum in Paris as well as a loyal following of affluent collectors and friends who bought pieces, such as the present lots, straight from the artist’s studio on the rue Hippolyte-Maindron. PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE SWISS COLLECTION

Diego Giacometti (1902-1985)

Console 'La promenade des amis'

Details

Diego Giacometti (1902-1985)
Console 'La promenade des amis'
stamped with the signature and monogram 'Diego DG' (on the lower horizontal bar)
bronze with greenish brown patina
Length: 47 7/8 in. (121.5 cm.)
Height: 35 1/8 in. (89 cm.)
Depth: 14 in. (35.5 cm.)
Giacometti, D.

Provenance

Private collection, Paris, by whom acquired directly from the artist, circa 1980-1984, and thence by descent to the present owner.

Literature

M. Butor, Diego Giacometti, Paris, 1985 (another cast illustrated).
F. Francisci, Diego Giacometti, catalogue de l'œuvre, vol. I, Paris, 1986, p. 15 (another cast illustrated).
D. Marchesseau, Diego Giacometti, Paris, 1986, p. 93 (another cast illustrated).

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

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Adrienne Everwijn-Dumas

aeverwijn-dumas@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2376

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