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Lot Essay
“The balance between sensitivity and skill, between free sculpture and fine craftsmanship, the sense of décor and the taste for the functional, were exceptionally rare in the 20th century”—François Baudot
(F. Baudot, Diego Giacometti, New York, 2001, p.17).
Diego Giacometti’s Console aux deux oiseaux et coupelle is a celebration of the artist’s love of nature and his interest in the traditional craftsmanship of his native Swiss Alps. This unique console’s slender form adopts the surface tactility developed by Alberto Giacometti (with Diego’s help) for his iconic sculptures of the human figure, yet it is infused with Diego’s singular joie de vivre and his appreciation of natural forms. Together, they result in an object of unparalleled elegance, celebrated by connoisseurs around the world.
Executed in 1970, Console aux deux oiseaux et coupelle is distinguished by the two birds that inhabit the lower stretcher; one, with his elongated horizontal body, appears to be challenging his companion’s domination of a small bowl. The fineness of the frame, along with the inclusion of a glass top ensures that the tussle that plays out ‘underneath’ the table can, in fact, be witnessed from all angles. The present work offers up a more elaborate version of a later console once owned by the fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy (which contained just one bird) and which recently sold at Christie’s Paris for €1.6million.
Giacometti’s affinity for nature can be traced back to his childhood in the small town of Stampa in the Swiss Alps, where he was surrounded by the tall mountains and the abundant birds and animals he found in the woodlands around the family home. He was also fascinated by the carved wooden animals that he saw and played with as a child, forms which would later reappear in his later work. Diego began his career by assisting his brother Alberto in his Parisian studio. It was here that the younger brother discovered his love of working in plaster and bronze, and learned the traditional ‘lost wax’ method of casting metal, a method which he would adopt to great acclaim in his later works, including the present example. In addition, as he developed his own style, Diego began to adopt the classical elegance which would become a feature of his later work and can be seen in the sophisticated silhouette of Console aux deux oiseaux et coupelle.
Diego Giacometti’s work occupies that special place that encompasses both form and function. In the present example, the elegant proportions are punctuated by the delicate insertion of the two playful birds, a combination which, as critic François Baudot points out is difficult to achieve successfully, “The balance between sensitivity and skill, between free sculpture and fine craftsmanship, the sense of décor and the taste for the functional, were exceptionally rare in the 20th century” (F. Baudot, Diego Giacometti, New York, 2001, p.17). Giacometti’s successful assimilation of the these two has resulted in works unlike any other in the canon of twentieth-century art and design.
(F. Baudot, Diego Giacometti, New York, 2001, p.17).
Diego Giacometti’s Console aux deux oiseaux et coupelle is a celebration of the artist’s love of nature and his interest in the traditional craftsmanship of his native Swiss Alps. This unique console’s slender form adopts the surface tactility developed by Alberto Giacometti (with Diego’s help) for his iconic sculptures of the human figure, yet it is infused with Diego’s singular joie de vivre and his appreciation of natural forms. Together, they result in an object of unparalleled elegance, celebrated by connoisseurs around the world.
Executed in 1970, Console aux deux oiseaux et coupelle is distinguished by the two birds that inhabit the lower stretcher; one, with his elongated horizontal body, appears to be challenging his companion’s domination of a small bowl. The fineness of the frame, along with the inclusion of a glass top ensures that the tussle that plays out ‘underneath’ the table can, in fact, be witnessed from all angles. The present work offers up a more elaborate version of a later console once owned by the fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy (which contained just one bird) and which recently sold at Christie’s Paris for €1.6million.
Giacometti’s affinity for nature can be traced back to his childhood in the small town of Stampa in the Swiss Alps, where he was surrounded by the tall mountains and the abundant birds and animals he found in the woodlands around the family home. He was also fascinated by the carved wooden animals that he saw and played with as a child, forms which would later reappear in his later work. Diego began his career by assisting his brother Alberto in his Parisian studio. It was here that the younger brother discovered his love of working in plaster and bronze, and learned the traditional ‘lost wax’ method of casting metal, a method which he would adopt to great acclaim in his later works, including the present example. In addition, as he developed his own style, Diego began to adopt the classical elegance which would become a feature of his later work and can be seen in the sophisticated silhouette of Console aux deux oiseaux et coupelle.
Diego Giacometti’s work occupies that special place that encompasses both form and function. In the present example, the elegant proportions are punctuated by the delicate insertion of the two playful birds, a combination which, as critic François Baudot points out is difficult to achieve successfully, “The balance between sensitivity and skill, between free sculpture and fine craftsmanship, the sense of décor and the taste for the functional, were exceptionally rare in the 20th century” (F. Baudot, Diego Giacometti, New York, 2001, p.17). Giacometti’s successful assimilation of the these two has resulted in works unlike any other in the canon of twentieth-century art and design.