Almost 40 years ago, Lt. Col. Richard Cummings purchased “Indian” from Antonio Diego (referred to the biography written by Joy Gibson) at the Ramstein AFB in Germany. Receiving memories on how Diego collectors purchased Diego’s works of art adds to the history of Diego Voci and becomes a part of the Diego Voci Legacy.
Be a part of the Diego Voci Legacy, share your memories to diegovociproject@gmail.com or visit Diego Voci Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/diego.voci
John and Kathryn Marchi share their soulful story about how they met #Diego and acquired their two Diego works of art.
Kathryn Marchi reached out to the Diego Voci #Facebook page from a post yesterday title
“I LIKE DIEGO’S WORK BECAUSE…” . Stephen Max, Canadian Diego Voci Project Team member asked Diego Collectors in the most recent Christmas Diego Voci Newsletter, what they like about Diego’s work. And the responses are coming in. Please share yours!
“We are very excited about your Diego project!
Our Diego painting has been a centerpiece in our homes and admired by guests for over 40 years. We’ve loved telling the story about how we met Diego and our visit to his studio in the Taunus in 1976.
We were a military family, stationed in Frankfurt, Germany from 1975-1977. At that time, Diego was exhibiting and selling his paintings in the Frankfurt Officers’ Club. We met him there and admired his work.
In March, 1976, we received an invitation to attend an open house at Diego and Helga’s studio/home in Taunusstein-Neuhof near Wiesbaden, Germany. We were greeted at the door by Helga, dressed in black slacks and a sheer off-white blouse- a truly stunning woman. Upon arrival, each guest was given a number and were told that later on in the day, a drawing would be held for a special prize, not further identified. The home was small, cozy and decorated like one would expect from an artist…and quite charming. Paintings were displayed everywhere. Shortly after this, I noticed that Diego was sitting on a stool before an easel at the rear of his home, where I suspected he did all of his sketches and painting. I stood nearby and watched the sketch of a gypsy woman unfold. He created the picture, using one color and shades thereof. Once completed with his brush, he took a black magic marker and put in appropriate highlights. To my recollection, this beautiful sketch was created in less than 5 minutes. I was truly astounded. You can guess how we came by our sketch! Yes, our number was drawn and we were the thrilled recipients of the Gypsy Woman prize. Diego continued at the easel throughout the day and numbers were drawn periodically for the various sketches.
As we browsed throughout the studio, we were also told that Diego had begun to paint landscapes and there were many being displayed. However, my wife and I preferred what we considered Diego’s trademark; paintings of soulful female faces. “Venus in the Springtime” caught our eye and we purchased the painting that day. Unfortunately we have forgotten the price we paid; however, the enjoyment of this painting has been priceless.”
John D. Marchi
LTC (ret) US Army
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