Diomede, Miguel (1902–1974)
Diomede, Miguel (1902–1974)
Miguel Diomede (b. 20 July 1902; d. 15 October 1974), Argentine painter. Diomede was born in La Boca, an Italian bohemian neighborhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, where he lived and worked all his life, except for a short trip to Italy in 1954. A self-taught artist, he earned a living in humble jobs (street photographer, stevedore, hospital orderly, ship painter). He received several awards, including the first prize at the Salón de La Plata in Buenos Aires Province, 1957, and the bronze medal at the International Exhibition of Brussels, 1958. In 1959 he had a show at the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C. He became a member of the National Academy of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires in 1973. In 1974, two months before his death, he had a retrospective exhibition at the Galería LAASa in Buenos Aires.
The Argentine critic Damián Bayón called Diomede "one of the great melancholics," comparing his style to that of Eugenio Daneri. Diomede's work is marked by soft tones and large-scale composition. The elegance of his still lifes is immediately suggestive of the Italian Giorgio Morandi. He had a refined perception of reality and a soft sense of rhythm.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Museum of Modern Art of Latin America (1985).
Vincente Gesualdo, Aldo Biglione, and Rodolfo Santos, Diccionario de artistas plásticos en la Argentina (1988).
Amalia Cortina Aravena