Albert Diato: Ceramist and Painter

Exhibition from July 4 to September 15, 2013 in Monaco: exhibition room on Quai Antoine ^I

A protean artist who brilliantly handles brush, pen or clay, Albert Diato was born in Monaco in 1927, where he obtained his baccalaureate in 1945. In Paris, during the euphoric post-war period, he rubbed shoulders with all artistic trends of the time, but mainly abstraction, surrealism and lettrism. His poems and short stories reveal an original dreamlike and “underground” universe.

Discovering the pleasure of working with clay thanks to Picasso, who invited him to Vallauris and who explored ceramics at the Madoura workshop, in 1948, with Francine Del Pierre and Gilbert Portanier, Albert Diato created the Triptyque workshop, which contributed to the aesthetic revolution of ceramics in the 1950s. From 1952, he opened various workshops in Paris, London, Faenza, etc. His pieces are exhibited in major galleries and have been acquired by numerous museums in France and abroad (Saint-Étienne, Victoria and Albert Museum, etc.). His ceramics are strong and powerful, and their preparatory designs creative and vigorous.

In 1959, Diato won the gold medal at the International Ceramics Exhibition in Ostend. That same year, Prince Pierre of Monaco noticed this gifted ceramist and asked him to decorate the Princess Caroline Library in Monaco, inaugurated by the very young princess. In 1960, he commissioned him to create a large ceramic wall panel and a stucco ceiling for the delegates' room at UNESCO in Paris.

But the talent of the ceramist should not eclipse that of the painter. His painting is completely unique and original, and appears very early on gouaches, oils, engravings and lithographs. Stylized and sharp, it was initially figurative, before Diato launched headlong, around 1957, into a beautiful poetic abstraction. In 1962, influenced by Yves Klein and his golden monochromes, he introduced gold leaf into his creations. His work, which exudes mysticism and serenity, has been exhibited by the greatest international galleries.

In 1967, at the request of King Zaher Shah of Afghanistan, and thanks to his great knowledge of enamels and firing, Albert Diato was appointed as an expert by the International Labor Office (ILO) in Geneva in order to revive Afghan pottery. He created a large wall panel for the French embassy in Kabul, then two others for the king's villa in Naghlu.

It was only shortly before his premature death in 1985 that Albert Diato returned to Monaco, leaving the memory of an extraordinary warm and poetic personality.

The retrospective exhibition in summer 2013, organized by the Directorate of Cultural Affairs of Monaco and the exhibition curators Adriano Ribolzi and Marie-Pascale Suhard, will restore Albert Diato to his rightful place in the hearts of Monegasques and to the position of great creator in the artistic context of the 20^th century that he occupied during his lifetime.

• 23 x 30.5 cm
• 288 pages
• 630 illustrations
• Hardback cover
• Bilingual French-English
• ISBN: 978-2-9155-4253-0