This exceptional low table by Diego Giacometti was a personal gift from the artist to his friend, American journalist Robert Wernick. The latter, who spent part of his life in Paris, frequented the artistic community in which Alberto and Diego Giacometti were active. Diego’s home on the rue du Moulin Vert, and the studio where he worked with his brother on the rue Hippolyte-Maindron in the 14th arrondissement in Paris, were not far from Wernick’s, and the two would form a bond that lasted nearly fifty years. Wernick was indeed the first writer to acknowledge Diego as an artist in his own right in an article published on January 10, 1974 in the International Herald Tribune, in which he distinguished Diego as a talented craftsman separate from his brother Alberto.
The present low table exudes the elegance of antiquity and pays homage to ancient architecture through its rectilinear form and variated surface texture. Combined with its russet brown patina with green highlights, the table presents a weathered character that alludes to the passing of t.mes
. This low table, for which Diego intentionally selected the marble slab used for the top, epitomizes the singular elegance of his work. With its slender bronze forms and illusions to antiquity, this work not only embodies Diego Giacometti’s artistry but also boasts a provenance that was pivitol to his oeuvre.