Giorgio di Chirico
Born in Volos (Greece) in 1888, deceased in Rome (Italy) in 1978.
From Athens to Munich, and Turin to Paris where a young Giorgio exhibits at the Salon d’automne in 1912, he meets surrealist artists and Dadaists: Apollinaire, Picasso, Braque, Derain, and Brancusi.
Over his lifetime, he will be known as a painter, sculptor, writer, and illustrator, In 1918, he settles in Rome, where he joints the Futurist and Dadist groups. In 1919 in Rome, and in 1921 in Milan, he presents his metaphysical paintings, without much success. In Paris, followed by the Venice Biennial of 1924, he begins to gain recognition for his work. In 1925, he exhibits at the Galerie Rosenberg in Paris, provoking the definitive rupture with the Breton group. In 1929, he is hired by Diaghilev to conceive of the set and costume design for his ballet, “Le Bal”. In New York, from 1935 to 1938, he finally achieves enormous success. In 1939, he moves back to Italy. In 1974, he is named as a member of the Académie Française des Beaux-Arts. In 1978, after his death, he is buried in the “San Francisco a Ripa” crypt in Trastevere.
In 1956, for his second wife, Isabella, he creates a large gold and diamond brooch, mounted with three big pearls that frame his favorite subject, that of “Archaeologists”. As early as 1970, during his neo-metaphysical period, he produces a jewelry series in silver, depicting the main themes of his paintings: muses, archaeologists, troubadours, horses, masks and faceless human bodies – all named after Greek myths, like Hector and Andromache, Orestes and Pylades – the heroes featured in his metaphysical worlds. At the time of his death, not all the jewelry he intended to make had been completed, so his widow authorized the production of the remaining series.(USA)
Caption:
Gli Archéologi, circa 1972
Pendant – Silver
5.5 x 5 cm
Edition of 150 (Gübelin)
Coll. Diane Venet
