Brothers Alberto and Diego Giacometti turned their combined skills, the former as sculptor, the latter as artisan, to the creation of sculptural functional objects in the 1930s, enlisted by the visionary decorator Jean-Michel Frank to add these hybrid artefacts, in plaster and in bronze, to the repertoire of ingredients that constituted his understated yet magical interior projects. The brothers created totemic floor and table lamps, andirons, vases, furniture and bibelots. These works sometimes clearly acknowledge sources of inspiration from antiquity, and if not always specific in such references seem nonetheless to be infused with the character of archaeological finds. Diego carried on these lines of creative enquiry through the post-war years, working independently after his brother’s death, and the pieces that bear his signature – functional sculptures modelled with a still-palpable immediacy and yet with a quality of timelessness – have long been appreciated and enjoyed as a perfect counterpoint to great 20th century art.

DIEGO GIACOMETTI (1902-1985)

A 'BOUGEOIR' TABLE LAMP, CIRCA 1960

Details

DIEGO GIACOMETTI (1902-1985)
A 'BOUGEOIR' TABLE LAMP, CIRCA 1960
patinated bronze
8 in. (20.3 cm.) high
with artist cipher DG

Provenance

Galerie Hadjer, Paris;
Galerie Vallois, Paris.

Sale room notice

Please note that Christie’s has a direct financial interest in this lot.

Lot Essay

cf. D. Marchesseau, Diego Giacometti, Paris, 1986, p. 169;
C. Boutonnet and R. Ortiz, Diego Giacometti, exhibition catalogue, L'Arc en Seine, Paris, 2003, p. 82.

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