LILIANE DUSSARD #HISTORY WITH DIEGO

Helga Voci, widow of Diego Voci shares;
“In the beginning of the seventies we moved to #Bavaria, where my parents lived and where they intended to build a house and Diego was supposed to help them. So, we rented an apartment in the same #village. At the same time Diego did not like doing business with Joy Naffouj anymore; and Liliane Dussard, a #French lady who had been working for Naffouj in her #gallery for a while, wanted to change also.

So, Diego and Liliane decided to work together (around 1972 for several years). Liliane came to our house and she started to take contacts with #Nürnberg Ladies Clubs and Officers’ Clubs and had soon several dates for #exhibits. Now we needed frames, as everything was an #experiment. In the village, we found a #wood joiner and Diego made models of frames, so he started to do a collection of frames in different sizes, then we got these frames and Diego`s atelier became a frame workshop. Diego painted on #canvases and Liliane and me painted and #gold-plated the frames under Diego`s instruction. We were almost working day and night, as everything had to be ready for our first exhibit.

And then we started our first exhibit in the Officers’ Club Fürth near Nürnberg and it was a very big success.”

(This history is a little fuzzy with dates): Liliane Dussard (deceased now) represented Diego beginning in 1972 and times throughout his years until 1985.

Liliane arranged art auctions at Officer’s Club, hosted Gallery exhibits for Diego and shared Holidays with Helga and Diego. (see Art Auction flyer below for 1985 “Dussard Art Studio” in Taunusstein).

Lilian Dussard moved to the United States in 1973 and opened a gallery with her name: Dussard Art Gallery in Strafford, Virginia.

Diego Voci; “Retour du Travail” #451-260 oil on canvas

We know Liliane’s had this painting by Diego Voci in her own collection: “Retour du Travail” #451-260

#DIEGO…#FRONTDOORS…#BAVARIA!

In the 1970, the parents of Helga Voci (Diego’s wife), built a new house in Bavaria. Diego’s artistic involvement can be seen in the interior and exterior to this day.

Here is an image of the front door (along with a close up) designed and sculpted in copper by Diego. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Diego_Voci#Germany_-_Naffouj_and_Dahms_galleries

The inspiration of the design was of the Roman time period. Notice the Roman numbers across the middle of the door.

To be fascinated by Diego’s talents Google “Diego Voci” and click “images”.  

A GIFT OF OUR DAUGHTER AND OUR FIRST TRIP TO THE UNITED STATES!

“HELGA AND DIEGO”

by Helga Voci

Chapter 6 Part 1

“1970-1976”

“Diego was preparing an art show in Ravenna, Italy which was organized by Galleria Cairoli from October 30th to November 10th in 1970. We had a beautiful season, Italian lifestyle, sunshine, beach, and good Italian food.  After this exhibit we moved back to Germany in December of that year.

My parents were then building a house in Bavaria. Diego was drawing the plans and helped with the interior decoration. So we rented an apartment there from December 1970 until June 1972. At that time Diego still sent paintings to Naffouj, but he was not so happy anymore with the agreement, so we stopped and started doing the business ourselves.

For several years we worked together with Liliane Dussard, a French lady who had been working in Naffouj Gallery before and later on. I think in 1972 Christine Khan took over. I am still in contact with Christine.

In the meantime we moved from Bavaria to Schwetzingen near Heidelberg. There we had a little daughter, Alessandra (you can view a portrait Diego made of her in of the previous posts).   In 1976 we moved to Taunusstein near Wiesbaden, where we bought a house and where Diego lived and worked until his death in 1985. This house is where I still live today.

 

Above: Pastel of Alessandra Voci when she was 8 years old, born 1974 and a recent Photograph of Alessandra today.

During that time, in 1973, we made our first trip to the United States. We bought a car in New York and we drove across the U.S. from N.Y. to San Francisco. We went to places like New Orleans and Albuquerque. We visited several Indian pueblos, where Diego started to make sketches of the Indians, because he thought they had very interesting faces.”

Let the DVP Team know at diegovociproject@gmail who Diego visited during his travels in the United States1973.

“MY LIFE TOOK ON NEW MEANING, I BECAME MORE” (After DIEGO met Helga DRÖSSLER, January 1960)

“HELGA and DIEGO” by Helga Voci

Chapter 5   #Wiesbaden, #Germany. 1968 Marriage in #Denmark.

“In Spring 1965 Diego wanted to go to #Germany and we came to #Wiesbaden where he had been living for sometime with Josiane, his ex-wife.  We both liked Wiesbaden, so we rented an apartment in #Sonnenbergerstrasse. It was a beautiful place, we got it for a very low price, but had made a contract for 5 years and agreed to renovate it. So for at least 6 months we were living in the middle of sand, concrete, and tiles. But at the end we had a beautiful high ceiling living-room with open fireplace, fantastic new bathroom and a beautiful Studio. We had hand-painted and gold-plated dining-room furniture which I still have today and many beautiful paintings.

In this period #Diego found the Gallery Dahms in Wiesbaden where he exhibited and sold many paintings. He still made caricatures from time to time in #Wiesbaden, #Heidelberg and #Ramstein. There he met Joy Naffouj, a Canadian gallery owner, who was exhibiting different artists in an art show. She was very interested in Diego’s work, so he started to give her some paintings and drawings on commission.

Since his work was selling very well, they both made a contract: so many paintings for so much money per month.  I believe this was when #Diego began signing with the name”Diego.” Before he had mostly signed A.Voci (Antonio Voci) or D.Voci (Diego Voci). It worked quite well.

We finally decided to marry, which we did in January 68 in #Denmark. As #Diego did not have to bother anymore about how to sell his paintings, we decided to spend the winter in the Canary Islands. We took our car in December 1968, with lots of canvases and paints of many colors. We went to #Barcelona and took the boat to Puerto del la Cruz (#Tenerife). We rented a little house on top of a big house with a very big terrace. We had a beautiful view over the ocean. We had wonderful 6 months. #Diego painted each day. Once a month we made a roll of the canvases and sent them to Joy and Jadat Naffouj in #Landstuhl, Germany.

In March 1970 the contract of our apartment in #Wiesbaden finished, the house was supposed to be sold, so Diego had the idea to move to Italy. In March 1970 we ordered a shipping company, deposited our furniture in #Bavaria at my parents` place and left for #Italy. We went to several places and finally rented a villa in Riccione at the Italia Adrian seaside. Diego was painting and still sending his paintings to Naffouj Gallery.”

AC DV History #38 6/15/2010

AC DV History #158 11/20/2013

HELGA IN A PARIS BISTRO

“HELGA and DIEGO” by Helga Voci

Helga (here in the image) enjoying the moment in a Paris Bistro. 

CHAPTER 3 Paris Summer 1960 to February 1962

“In Paris summer 1960… I got very sick and I was in the Hospital for 3 months. I was very weak when I came out and had lost a lot of weight, so in order to get strong again Diego went with me to South France. We stayed in very good hotels; he made me eat a lot of very good food, a very calm life.  At that time he did very beautiful drawings, but he did not keep them, he gave them to people in Hotels or to friends. We stayed there until November 1960.

From there I flew to Munich and stayed some weeks over Christmas in Bavaria with my family while Diego went to London. He rented a beautiful furnished apartment in SoHo. In January 1961, I followed him to London. I studied English and Diego made some paintings and drawings. From time to time he made caricatures in American Officer’s clubs. He did not look for Galleries to make exhibits. When I asked him, he always said: “I`m not ready yet, I have to study more.”

The weather was very bad in London and Diego wanted to go south to the sun. So we decided to go to Spain in October 1961. We took the car and went southward, stopped in several cities and after about 1 month we arrived in the Andalusia region in a very beautiful little fishing village called Almunecar. This was an artist`s colony, all kind of artists from different countries. We stayed until January 1962. We had a beautiful and very interesting time with long discussions, Diego also made paintings and drawings but he never kept anything, when the painting was finished he was not interested anymore and made presents to friends. He was very popular among the Spanish people also the higher class and he felt wonderful.

In February 1962 we left Spain and went to Morocco, first to Casablanca and Tangier and then he was supposed to go to Marrakech to do some work in an American Officers’ Club. I had to go to Germany for personal reasons, so I flew to Munich while Diego stayed in Marrakech.”

AC DV History 6/10/2010 Post #36

“HELGA and #DIEGO VOCI” by Helga Voci

#DIEGO VOCI Aficionados get a special bonus. Nobody knew #DIEGO VOCI better for 25 years than Helga Voci.  She is sole owner of the Diego Voci Estate and provides us with this terrific insight into her, and her years with #DIEGO VOCI.

Chapter One:  Who is Helga Voci?

“I was born in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1939, just before the war started. My parents were Germans, at that time many Germans had been living in Czechoslovakia for generations. When the war started my father had to join the army and he was killed in 1941 in Russia, my maiden name was Drössler.  In 1945 all Germans had to leave Czechoslovakia (because Hitler had lost the war) and we were brought to Germany, my family to Bavaria.

“Prag / Tschechin”, D. Voci 1964, oil on wood, 56 x 80 cm. 

In 1948 my mother married again, her name was then Brandl, I kept the name Drössler. After high school I went for 1 year to a Hotel boarding school, where I received my diploma when I was 18. In order to improve my language knowledge in English and French which was very important for that profession, I decided to go to Paris together with a girlfriend of that school. A few months before we had made a short trip to Paris to find out what possibilities we had to find accommodations, the right school and the way to make some money, as my family and her family were not quite happy about the idea to see us in Paris (this was over 50 years ago!)  and did not want to finance this project.

Anyway, we took the train in December 1957, went to Paris, took a taxi and went right away to school. There was a big blackboard in the hallway with many ads of families who were looking for au-pair girls. We called several numbers and within short time we both had a place to live.

In Paris we stayed until March 1959. It was a beautiful time, we studied, in the evenings we frequented the typical Parisian coffeehouses where we met many students and many artists and during the holidays we made trips through France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece and so on. In March 1959 we decided to work for the season to make some money. So we both found work in a Hotel in Bernkastel at the Mosel/Germany for 6 months, until September 1959. Then we both went home to our families for a few months.” – Helga Voci 

NEXT: Chapter Two: Helga meets DIEGO VOCI in Paris

6/10/2010 AC DV History #30

FESTIVITES BEGIN WITH “MÄDCHEN MIT MANDOLINE”!

This gallery contains 2 photos.

“Mӓdchen Mit Mandoline” #1241-183, oil on canvas As the holiday season is upon us, the Diego Voci Project is delighted to share from the collection of Barbara Warner her favorite Diego painting titled “Mӓdchen Mit Mandoline”.  Barbara Warner purchased her … Continue reading →