Diego Giacometti
Diego Giacometti ( * November 15, 1902 in Borgonovo, Stampa community, since 2010 Bregaglia community; † 15 July 1985 in Paris) was a Swiss sculptor and designer. He was the younger brother of the sculptor Alberto Giacometti.
Life and work
Childhood and education
Diego Giacometti was born in Borgonovo in Switzerland, a mountain village in Bergell near the Italian border. He was among four children, the second son of the painter Giovanni Giacometti and his wife Annetta, born Stampa ( 1871-1964 ). All three Giacometti brothers should be active in the arts: Alberto and Diego in the field of painting, sculpture and design, as an architect Bruno.
In late autumn 1903, the Giacometti moved to Stampa in the inn Piz Duan, which was owned by the family and birthplace of Giovanni Giacometti, and related 1906 an apartment, which was the family center in the next sixty years. Giovanni Giacometti built from the adjacent barn to a studio that took he and his children for their artistic work.
After the commencement of commercial training in St. Gallen from 1924 Diego Giacometti joined, following the advice of his mother, in February 1925 his older brother Alberto and moved to Paris. So far he had lived in the day and shown little responsibility for his lifestyle. Alberto Giacometti was since 1922 a student of the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere and should take care of his brother. However, this refused to work in Bourdelle's workshop from, preferred to work in a factory office in Saint- Denis, and lived in notorious bars and brothels.
Collaboration with Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti Diego assis, 1964 bronze 58.5 × 19.7 × 32.5 cm Alberto Giacometti -Stiftung, Zurich Link to image ( Please note copyrights )
Diego Giacometti was only in 1929, his life's work when his brother through the mediation of Man Ray - the photographer in the Surrealist group - the Parisian interior architect and furniture designer Jean -Michel Frank met. By Frank Alberto Giacometti received orders for furnishings in plaster or bronze as wall sconces, lamps, vases, fireplace versions, which were destined for the homes of the Parisian upper class. Diego Giacometti became the indispensable help of his brother Alberto, because he was skillful craftsmanship and made the necessary preparations, such as plaster casts and scaffolding for the sculpture of his brother. He also helped with the actual sculptor working and sat him daily model. They shared the same studio in the rue Hippolyte- Maindron 46 in Paris and worked together on orders for the Maeght family and Noailles. During the Second World War, Diego Giacometti took courses at the Scandinavian Academy of Arts and created his first sculptures of animals. Animals had inspired him since his childhood. From 1939, he created his own sculptural works and put in 1950 focuses on furniture and objects.
Working as an independent artist
After the death of his brother Alberto in 1966, Diego Giacometti concentrated entirely on his own work. It is believed that he has created 4,000 to 5,000 objects and sculptures, which he sold in his lifetime to friends and acquaintances. For the Fondation Maeght, he designed the interior of the "Café Diego " in Saint -Paul -de- Vence. The last big job made him widely known to the public: Diego Giacometti designed the interior of the opened in September 1985 Musée Picasso in Paris. From him the furniture, banisters, door fittings and ceiling lamps. The opening of the museum did not live to Diego Giacometti.
On the 50th anniversary of the death of Alberto Giacometti Giacometti, the Centro is to be opened in his home town of Stampa in January 2016, which will be dedicated next to Alberto Giacometti Diego and also the other members of the family of artists.