Diego, The Other Giacometti

From the 15th of March to the 2nd of July 2023 Fondazione Luigi Rovati will host the exhibition ‘Diego, The Other Giacometti’, curated by Casimiro Di Crescenzo and organized in collaboration with PLVR Zurich. More than sixty objects ranging from sculptures and furnishings to small animals and maquettes, proof of Giacometti’s varied sculptural work, will join the permanent collection of the Art Museum, creating a connection with Etruscan art, which inspired many of his creations. This is the first italian exhibition dedicated to the Swiss artist: thanks to the support of Diego Giacometti’s heirs, it will display loans from the Giacometti Foundation in Paris, the Alberto Giacometti Stiftung, kept at the Kunsthaus Zurich, and the Picasso Museum in Paris, together with loans coming from his heirs and other private collections.

Diego and his brother Alberto had a very strong bond and spent forty years living in Paris in a symbiotic relationship. For this reason, their works carry some formal similarities, although Diego’s art, characterized by a love for the animal world, maintains a personal approach with original results. His creations are elegant, with an unmistakable style which combines elements of antique art (Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan or Roman) with playful references to the natural world. His work celebrates the essentiality of forms, the perfect proportions and the careful balance between different parts.

The works displayed include: Diego’s first work Lionne (1931); Lion Head (1934), a powerful work carved in stone which stood at the entrance of the family house in Maloja, loaned by the Alberto Giacometti-Stiftung; the Table basse “Carcasse” modèle à la chauve-souris (1975) and the console “Promenade des amis” (1976), one of the most representative of Diego’s work, loaned from private collections; the Torchère, maquette demi-grandeur (1983-84), a model used by Diego during his work for the Picasso Museum in Paris; the Lanterne à quatre lumières (1983), created for the American philanthropist and collector Rachel (Bunny) Lambert Mellon is displayed on the Piano Nobile, right at the entrance. And finally, displayed here for the first time: the three Oiseaux created in 1934 for Francis Gruber’s living room, the Mirror (1942), inspired by baroque style, the Hand (1942-44) and the Applique aux panthères, which used to sit in the artist’s house in Rue du Moulin-Vert in Paris.

The exhibition is accompanied by the homonymous catalogue edited by Casimiro Di Crescenzo and published by Fondazione Luigi Rovati. The artist’s biography is analysed in relation to his brother Alberto, highlighting his personal and original creative career, balancing sculpture and design. The catalogue is enhanced by texts from Roger Montandon, Eberhard W. Kornfeld and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Images: 21 b/w and 72 colour. Price: € 27.00

Guided tour (in Italian) of Diego Giacometti’s works every Wednesday at 11 am. The price of € 20.00 includes entrance to the exhibition and to the main collection.

© Diego Giacometti, by SIAE 2023