“HELGA and DIEGO” by Helga Voci
CHAPTER 4 Schloßgalerie and Switzerland
“Diego had to stay in Marrakech until August, so I decided to take a job in a travel agency in Lugano, Switzerland. This gave me the possibility to work and also to improve my Italian. I was already able to speak, but I didn’t know the grammar, so I took private lessons. Finally in August 1962 Diego joined me in Lugano.
In Switzerland it was for the first time, where Diego was seriously looking for galleries. He went to Geneva, Bern, and also to Zurich. In Zurich he found the Schloßgalerie where the owner was very interested in showing his work. So Diego decided to stay for some time in Switzerland. We rented a boathouse at the lake of Constance close to Zurich and Diego painted. The gallery owner sold quite many paintings; but unfortunately I don`t know the names of the customers and which paintings were sold.
Antonio (Diego) Voci
1963 Studio provided by Schlossgalerie, Zurich Switzerland, owner R. Buri
At that time we never took pictures of the paintings, which is a pity. I feel very sorry, but I was young.
I had no experience and Diego did not care. If I could go back 50 years, I would do many things completely different. We stayed in Zurich until June 1963.
During this period Diego went also several times to Aviano, Italy, the American base. He would do caricatures there. At that time a painting was sold and brought to President John F. Kennedy, who was visiting Wiesbaden. (I don`t remember what it looked like).
In Italy, we stayed for some time in Milan, Florence, and Rome. Finally we came to a small medieval town in northern Italy, called Asolo with only 1000 inhabitants. We rented an apartment in a very old house in the middle of the town with a big terrace and Diego made his first real Studio. He mostly sold in Zurich in the Schloßgalerie. But he also worked with a gallery in Milan “Globart Kunstgalerie.””
Courtesy of the Diego Voci Project. Visit www.diegovociproject.com
Diego Voci on YouTube and Google
AC DV History #37 6/15/2010
AC P of W #207 6/9/2014
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