Large Bronze Couch Table, after a draft of Diego Giacometti (1902-1985)

This table is exe­cut­ed in bronze with a brown tone, raised on a four-feet, orna­men­tal­ly dec­o­rat­ed, rec­tan­gu­lar frame with round pil­lars, a four-side con­nec­tion in the upper part, and a cross-joint with an owl and a mouse fig­ure and slight­ly re-entrant ends, cen­tered by a curved bronze bow.

Diego Gia­comet­ti designed a sim­i­lar table mod­el with a cen­ter bow and joint con­nec­tion in 1976, an ear­ly ver­sion of the owl fig­ure we can find in 1960 und lat­er around 1980.

A beau­ti­ful exam­ple for an object with a mouse is the stool ​“TABOURET DE COIF­FEUSE À LA SOURIS“, draft­ed by Gia­comet­ti cir­ca 1960.

Diego Gia­comet­ti (Borgonovo/​Switzerland 1902 — Paris 1985)

Diego Gia­comet­ti, the lit­tle broth­er of the sculp­tor Alber­to Gia­comet­ti, was born on Novem­ber 15, 1902 as the son of the painter Gio­van­ni Gia­comet­ti into a famous fam­i­ly of artists from Ital­ian Switzer­land. Diego’s edu­ca­tion took place in Stam­pa, Schiers, St. Gallen and Basel, where he attend­ed school. After fin­ish­ing, he went to Paris in 1925, where he became his broth­er Alber­to’s clos­est con­fi­dante and advisor.

They worked togeth­er on many of Alber­to’s fig­ures, Diego made the plas­ter casts, fab­ri­cat­ed the sup­port­ing frame­work and did the pati­na­tion for his big broth­er’s frag­ile fig­ures. The broth­ers’ rela­tion­ship was close through­out their lives and Diego was also one of Alber­to’s most impor­tant models.

From 1939 Diego pro­duced his first, own works and from 1950 he began pro­duc­ing fur­ni­ture and art objects, most­ly com­mis­sioned by archi­tects, gallery own­ers and art col­lec­tors. Diego Gia­comet­ti espe­cial­ly reached fame with the inte­ri­or design of the Picas­so Muse­um in Paris, which opened in 1985. 

Fit­tings, light­ing and fur­ni­ture have Diego Gia­comet­ti’s sig­na­ture. Gia­comet­ti, who died in Paris on July 15, 1985, was unable to wit­ness the open­ing of the muse­um. For almost 40 years, Diego was over­shad­owed by his famous broth­er Alber­to and it was only after his death that he gained the respect he deserved on the inter­na­tion­al art mar­ket. James Lord the writer and biog­ra­ph­er who accom­pa­nied Alber­to for many years once wrote:

“Alber­to praised his broth­er’s work end­less­ly, tak­ing vis­i­tors to Diego’s work­shop to admire the lat­est work. He kept exclaim­ing, ​‘Diego has more than enough tal­ent, oh yes, more than enough!’

Lit­er­a­ture: Below are a few exam­ples of sim­i­lar table designs or ele­ments (owl and mouse)

Michel Butor and Jean Vin­cent, Diego Gia­comet­ti, Paris, 1985, p. 73, 108, 109, 125

Diego Gia­comet­ti, Möbel und Objek­te aus Bronze (Fur­ni­ture and Objects in Bronze) exhi­bi­tion cat­a­logue, Muse­um Bel­lerive, Zürich, June 16 — Sep­tem­ber 4, 1988, p. 15, 52, 97, n.85

Diego Gia­comet­ti Paris 1986, p. 42, 44

Daniel Marchesseau, Diego Gia­comet­ti, Sculp­teur de Meubles, Paris, 2018, p. 35, 85, 106

Daniel Marchesseau, Diego Gia­comet­ti, Paris, 1986, illus­tra­tion of anoth­er exam­ple p. 42,44, 142,184

Françoise Fran­cis­ci, Diego Gia­comet­ti, Cat­a­logue de l’oeu­vre, vol. I, Paris, 1986, p. 46, 104 – 105