With his furniture and everyday objects, Diego Giacometti continually crossed the boundary between art and design. For decades, the artist, who died in 1985, stood in the shadow of his older brother; now the Bündner Kunstmuseum in Chur is dedicating a major retrospective to him.
»Diego’s importance to his older brother Alberto is just beginning to be widely recognized«, wrote the New York Times in 1985 about the then 82-year-old artist Diego Giacometti, who had spent decades in the shadow of his famous brother. It took even longer for Diego Giacometti’s own artistic work—after more than three decades of supporting Alberto’s practice—to gain the recognition it deserved as an independent oeuvre.
But first, let’s rewind to the beginning: Alberto and Diego Giacometti were born in Switzerland in 1901 and 1902. The two brothers grew up alongside two other siblings in a family shaped by the artistic pursuits of their father, the painter Giovanni Giacometti. Diego initially devoted himself to drawing and experimented with etching, later completed a commercial apprenticeship, and finally followed his older brother—who was studying sculpture with Antoine Bourdelle in Paris—to the French capital. When Alberto received commissions to design and produce furnishings, the skilled craftsman Diego grew increasingly interested in his brother’s work, supporting him with plaster casts, scaffolding production, and sculpting activities.
During the Second World War, Diego Giacometti attended courses at the Scandinavian Academy of Art and created his first sculptures—including several extraordinary animal figures. From 1950 onwards, he focused primarily on designing furniture and artistic everyday objects. »The brothers were very different. Alberto was supremely self-confident, highly cultivated and insatiably curious. Diego was more instinctive, more physical and sometimes impenetrably self-effacing,« describes Michael Brenson in the New York Times, highlighting their differences. What united them, however, was their exceptional sense of scale and form, as well as a deep passion for artistic work and craftsmanship.
After the death of his brother in 1966, Diego Giacometti increasingly realized his own artistic visions, whereby his main focus was on designing artistic, often filigree furniture. He designed salon tables, armchairs and consoles made of glass and bronze. In addition, he created numerous pieces such as the »table in the shape of a skeleton«. Giacometti designed several pieces of furniture for the world-famous Kronenhalle bar in Zurich and the entire interior of the »Café Diego« in Saint-Paul-de-Vence for the Fondation Maeght. His last major commission attracted international attention and made him known to a wider public: Diego Giacometti designed the entire interior of the Musée Picasso in Paris, which opened in September 1985—from the furniture to the banisters and door fittings to the ceiling lights. With their filigree structure, the latter are reminiscent of large birdcages and were made of plaster-coated iron. However, the artist did not live to see the ceremonial opening of the museum: Diego Giacometti died in Paris in July 1985. As he gave away many of his works or sold them privately, his entire oeuvre is still not fully documented.
The Bündner Kunstmuseum in Chur is presenting a large-scale exhibition dedicated to the artist, on view until November 9, 2025. For the first time, Giacometti’s furniture is shown in an art context rather than a design context. The exhibition was created in collaboration with the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris, where Diego Giacometti’s estate is held. [SW]
