Lucio FONTANA (1899-1968)
1960 Concetto Spaziale - Buchi
2022 SOLD for € 15M by Christie's
The horrors of war traumatized Burri and Fontana. The rebirth of civilization requires a new art, completely different. Independent of each other, the conceptions of these two artists pave the way for minimalism, arte povera and new developments in action painting.
From 1940 to 1947 the Argentinean-Italian sculptor Lucio Fontana teaches art in Buenos Aires. With some of his students, he prepares in 1946 the Manifesto Blanco which invites to the development of an art inspired by the space-time of the physicists to transcend painting, sculpture, poetry and music.
Back in Italy, Fontana eagerly manages to develop a style that matches his ideas. Under the Spazialismo wording, he explores as early as 1947 a resolutely minimalist abstract art, neither really a painting nor really a sculpture, which will lead him to state that he has discovered the cosmic dimension, an artistic representation of the infinity. A contemporary of Barnett Newman, he is also a predecessor of Yves Klein.
His first major innovation is perforation, which he applies to various monochrome media : paper, cardboard, canvas, terra cotta, metal. Under the lighting, the pattern of holes brings to the work a variable brightness which annihilates the support. The inlays in Murano glass, also used by the artist, bring a similar effect while adding colors. After preparatory drawings, Fontana punches the material in a very rapid succession of violent gestures. He added cuts (tagli) from 1958.
The generic title of his works, Concetto spaziale (space concept), brings together a variety of formats on which he materializes his research. Lacerations and holes are transforming a monochrome support into a sort of sculpture whose invisible reverse side expresses the beyond, impossible to reach.
Concetto spaziale indeed refers to the cosmic mystery. At that time astronautics exists only in the mind of von Braun. Much later Fontana will complacently let himself be considered as a visionary of the space conquest.
On October 4, 2019, Christie's sold for £ 3.7M a Concetto Spaziale made in 1954, lot 109. The steel sheet 60 x 100 cm is decorated with six undulating rows composed of ten to sixteen holes. The area with the holes is limited by a narrow line which is also visible in other works by the artist. As on a television screen, the viewer's gaze must not wander outward.
A large size oil on canvas 200 x 200 cm executed in 1960 was sold for € 15M by Christie's on October 20, 2022, lot 13. Its shimmering silver surface is punctured by swirling spirals of holes (buchi) looking like constellations.
From 1940 to 1947 the Argentinean-Italian sculptor Lucio Fontana teaches art in Buenos Aires. With some of his students, he prepares in 1946 the Manifesto Blanco which invites to the development of an art inspired by the space-time of the physicists to transcend painting, sculpture, poetry and music.
Back in Italy, Fontana eagerly manages to develop a style that matches his ideas. Under the Spazialismo wording, he explores as early as 1947 a resolutely minimalist abstract art, neither really a painting nor really a sculpture, which will lead him to state that he has discovered the cosmic dimension, an artistic representation of the infinity. A contemporary of Barnett Newman, he is also a predecessor of Yves Klein.
His first major innovation is perforation, which he applies to various monochrome media : paper, cardboard, canvas, terra cotta, metal. Under the lighting, the pattern of holes brings to the work a variable brightness which annihilates the support. The inlays in Murano glass, also used by the artist, bring a similar effect while adding colors. After preparatory drawings, Fontana punches the material in a very rapid succession of violent gestures. He added cuts (tagli) from 1958.
The generic title of his works, Concetto spaziale (space concept), brings together a variety of formats on which he materializes his research. Lacerations and holes are transforming a monochrome support into a sort of sculpture whose invisible reverse side expresses the beyond, impossible to reach.
Concetto spaziale indeed refers to the cosmic mystery. At that time astronautics exists only in the mind of von Braun. Much later Fontana will complacently let himself be considered as a visionary of the space conquest.
On October 4, 2019, Christie's sold for £ 3.7M a Concetto Spaziale made in 1954, lot 109. The steel sheet 60 x 100 cm is decorated with six undulating rows composed of ten to sixteen holes. The area with the holes is limited by a narrow line which is also visible in other works by the artist. As on a television screen, the viewer's gaze must not wander outward.
A large size oil on canvas 200 x 200 cm executed in 1960 was sold for € 15M by Christie's on October 20, 2022, lot 13. Its shimmering silver surface is punctured by swirling spirals of holes (buchi) looking like constellations.
1961 Concetto Spaziale - La Piazza San Marco di Notte
2017 SOLD for £ 10M by Christie's
In early 1961 Lucio Fontana prepares eleven acrylic paintings on canvas in a single size 150 x 150 cm for the exhibition Arte e Contemplazione in July in the Palazzo Grassi. This collection with his usual title Concetto Spaziale displays the artist's abstract impressions in Venice throughout day and night. After this achievement Fontana completed his vision by eleven other paintings before the end of that year.
Fontana knows well Venice that he often revisits with his wife Teresita. His square format also invites for a tribute to the urban balance of the Piazza San Marco, the theme of no less than four opus among the 22 artworks of the series.
On October 6, 2017, Christie's sold for £ 10M as lot 106 one of the first eleven works. Located 'In piazza San Marco di notte con Teresita', it is certainly the best synthesis of the techniques used in this series : small holes and inlaid colored glassware on a heavy impasto of homogeneous color, a light-reflecting intense black for this specific case.
The holes form an almost regular outer square. The middle of the image is dotted with spots of color that express the artist's quest for a separation between the tangible space and the cosmos, like the glass windows in a church, anticipating the series of pierced oval canvases titled La Fine of Dio made in 1963-1964. This unconventional vision of Venice also responds to the artist's intention to promote an anti-bourgeois art.
Fontana knows well Venice that he often revisits with his wife Teresita. His square format also invites for a tribute to the urban balance of the Piazza San Marco, the theme of no less than four opus among the 22 artworks of the series.
On October 6, 2017, Christie's sold for £ 10M as lot 106 one of the first eleven works. Located 'In piazza San Marco di notte con Teresita', it is certainly the best synthesis of the techniques used in this series : small holes and inlaid colored glassware on a heavy impasto of homogeneous color, a light-reflecting intense black for this specific case.
The holes form an almost regular outer square. The middle of the image is dotted with spots of color that express the artist's quest for a separation between the tangible space and the cosmos, like the glass windows in a church, anticipating the series of pierced oval canvases titled La Fine of Dio made in 1963-1964. This unconventional vision of Venice also responds to the artist's intention to promote an anti-bourgeois art.
Concetto Spaziale - La Fine di Dio
1
1963 FD 22
2015 SOLD for £ 16M by Sotheby's
The sub-series La Fine di Dio consists of 38 oil paintings made in 1963 and 1964 that mark the peak of the philosophical thought of Fontana.
The canvas is cut in an oval shape whose standardized dimension of 178 x 123 cm is comparable to humans in its height. The water-painted monochrome surface is pierced with holes of various diameters whose disposition guides the imagination to a spiral galaxy or to the craters on a dry planet.
Following Nietzsche, Fontana does not really desire the death of God. He wants to be a keen interpreter. The end of God is not a death but an incapacity to reach him in the new understanding of the complexity of the egg and of the vastness of the cosmos, opening a post-theological era.
The oval shape is possibly expressing the nothingness, while mourning the unexpected early death of Piero Manzoni.
All paintings of La Fine di Dio are monochrome but they differ from one another in a wide range of colors. The holes are large or small, and their arrangement can be either as random as the craters of the moon or in an elegant form of constellations that bring some order to the chaos. They should be displayed together for understanding the whole mystical approach of the artist.
From one opus to another, the always monochrome color gradually leads the oval from the feeder egg to the planetary orbit. The more or less large and more or less spaced holes display the constitution or the explosion of the universe.
Some examples of Concetto Spaziale - La Fine di Dio were painted in a deep black that is a direct evocation of the night sky. The opus 63 FD 22 is pierced with large evenly spaced holes. Some large holes, but not all, are surrounded by a cohort of smaller holes forming the beginning of a spiral, like the birth of a subsystem ready for takeoff. It was sold for £ 16M by Sotheby's on October 15, 2015, lot 17.
The canvas is cut in an oval shape whose standardized dimension of 178 x 123 cm is comparable to humans in its height. The water-painted monochrome surface is pierced with holes of various diameters whose disposition guides the imagination to a spiral galaxy or to the craters on a dry planet.
Following Nietzsche, Fontana does not really desire the death of God. He wants to be a keen interpreter. The end of God is not a death but an incapacity to reach him in the new understanding of the complexity of the egg and of the vastness of the cosmos, opening a post-theological era.
The oval shape is possibly expressing the nothingness, while mourning the unexpected early death of Piero Manzoni.
All paintings of La Fine di Dio are monochrome but they differ from one another in a wide range of colors. The holes are large or small, and their arrangement can be either as random as the craters of the moon or in an elegant form of constellations that bring some order to the chaos. They should be displayed together for understanding the whole mystical approach of the artist.
From one opus to another, the always monochrome color gradually leads the oval from the feeder egg to the planetary orbit. The more or less large and more or less spaced holes display the constitution or the explosion of the universe.
Some examples of Concetto Spaziale - La Fine di Dio were painted in a deep black that is a direct evocation of the night sky. The opus 63 FD 22 is pierced with large evenly spaced holes. Some large holes, but not all, are surrounded by a cohort of smaller holes forming the beginning of a spiral, like the birth of a subsystem ready for takeoff. It was sold for £ 16M by Sotheby's on October 15, 2015, lot 17.
2
1963 FD 23
2008 SOLD for £ 9M by Christie's
After FD 22, 63 FD 23 is the next state of the cosmos, similar in design except that among the big holes only those in the center have survived, while the smaller holes now evenly punctuate the rest of the surface. They are thus revealed as the constellations that the previous phase had shown in their nascent state, according to the imagination of the artist.
FD 23 was sold for £ 9M by Christie's on October 19, 2008, lot 11.
FD 23 was sold for £ 9M by Christie's on October 19, 2008, lot 11.
3
1963 FD 24
2018 SOLD for £ 16M by Christie's
In 63 FD 24 the positioning of hollows is curvilinear, providing to this flat canvas the three-dimensional illusion of an egg, source and symbol of life.
It was sold twice by Christie's, for $ 21M on November 12, 2013, lot 19, and for £ 16M on October 4, 2018, lot 115.
It was sold twice by Christie's, for $ 21M on November 12, 2013, lot 19, and for £ 16M on October 4, 2018, lot 115.
4
1963 FD 30
2008 SOLD for £ 10.3M by Sotheby's
63 FD 30 is the only example from La Fine di Dio that has been lavished with a golden glitter. These thousands of metallic facets provide a unique incandescent effect. The shadows from the holes and recessions are fixed in oil paint.
FD 30 was sold for £ 10.3M by Sotheby's on February 27, 2008, lot 16.
FD 30 was sold for £ 10.3M by Sotheby's on February 27, 2008, lot 16.
5
1964
2015 SOLD for $ 29M by Christie's
The color helps to support the extent of knowledge from egg to cosmos. The egg is a symbol of birth and a perfect form that already inspired Brancusi. The bright yellow examples of the Fine di Dio are among the latest in the series, in 1964. The artist explores and maintains the splashes of his still wet paint when he introduces his piercing tool to expand the craters.
The ultimate synthesis of La Fine di Dio is achieved by combining spiral or swirling patterns with a gold color surface. This opus was sold as lot 15B for $ 29M by Christie's on November 10, 2015.
The ultimate synthesis of La Fine di Dio is achieved by combining spiral or swirling patterns with a gold color surface. This opus was sold as lot 15B for $ 29M by Christie's on November 10, 2015.
1965 Concetto Spaziale - Attese
1
2015 SOLD for $ 16M by Sotheby's
The film Deserto Rosso realized by his compatriot Antonioni is released in 1964. The director introduced in this work a strong aesthetic intent including saturated colors that contrast dramatically within a bleak surrounding industrial city.
Fontana watches the movie in Venice in 1965. He comes back to his studio with a renewed mystical impulse. The artist creates blade blows into the canvas as sharp as a stroke by a brush. Imitating the wall viewed in the film, Fontana slashes 24 vertical razor lines in parallel in a red painted canvas 65 x 200 cm. A few autograph words inscribed on the reverse are indicating the source of his inspiration.
This seminal artwork was sold for $ 16M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2015, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
For the artist, each incision strengthens his hope of attaining the knowledge. He gives the name of Attese (expectations) to this sub-series.
Fontana watches the movie in Venice in 1965. He comes back to his studio with a renewed mystical impulse. The artist creates blade blows into the canvas as sharp as a stroke by a brush. Imitating the wall viewed in the film, Fontana slashes 24 vertical razor lines in parallel in a red painted canvas 65 x 200 cm. A few autograph words inscribed on the reverse are indicating the source of his inspiration.
This seminal artwork was sold for $ 16M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2015, lot 8. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
For the artist, each incision strengthens his hope of attaining the knowledge. He gives the name of Attese (expectations) to this sub-series.
2
2015 SOLD for $ 16.4M by Christie's
Fontana lacerates with his cutter the canvases coated with a monochrome water paint. This is not a perforation because the sharpness of the gesture does not remove material. It is a gate that will open to mystic knowledge. He titles Concetto spaziale - Attese (Space concept - expectation) this important series which he will execute in hundreds of units until his death in 1968, varying the number and composition of the laceration and the monochrome pure color.
The action of the knife becomes a reflex that allows longer, more straight and tighter slashes, always vertical or slightly leaning. The violence of the cut is a meticulously composed illusion. There is no blow. The original cut is enlarged with the edge of the knife.
The appreciation of an Attese depends on the complexity of the positioning of the lines which the perfect gesture of the artist's hand is reproducing flawless. When only one scar affects the canvas, the title becomes Attesa in the singular. A red Attesa 197 x 144 cm painted in 1965 was sold for £ 6.7M by Christie's on February 6, 2008, lot 22.
A red Attese 116 x 90 cm with a total of 14 cuts in two rows, 1965 water-paint on canvas made in 1965, was sold for $ 16.4M by Christie's from a lower estimate of $ 10M on May 11, 2015, lot 17 A (not accessible from the online catalogue).
The action of the knife becomes a reflex that allows longer, more straight and tighter slashes, always vertical or slightly leaning. The violence of the cut is a meticulously composed illusion. There is no blow. The original cut is enlarged with the edge of the knife.
The appreciation of an Attese depends on the complexity of the positioning of the lines which the perfect gesture of the artist's hand is reproducing flawless. When only one scar affects the canvas, the title becomes Attesa in the singular. A red Attesa 197 x 144 cm painted in 1965 was sold for £ 6.7M by Christie's on February 6, 2008, lot 22.
A red Attese 116 x 90 cm with a total of 14 cuts in two rows, 1965 water-paint on canvas made in 1965, was sold for $ 16.4M by Christie's from a lower estimate of $ 10M on May 11, 2015, lot 17 A (not accessible from the online catalogue).
3
2021 SOLD for $ 12.8M by Sotheby's
A monochrome white Attese with twelve slightly oblique slashes in a row was sold for $ 12.8M from a lower estimate of $ 8M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 15.
This waterpaint on canvas 114 x 146 cm was executed in 1965. Fontana sometimes inscribed on the reverse a sentence marking his current occupation or interest. Here it reads "L'Ultima crono gela il Tour, primo Gimondi o Polidor ???", dating it exactly on Bastille day, 1965, when the Italian Felice Gimondi won the Tour de France in his first attempt, ahead of Raymond Poulidor.
White is a symbol of purity and a specially effective background for the gestural dance of the cuts.
A Concetto Spaziale - Attese 80 x 100 cm executed in 1965 in water-color white paint was sold for £ 8.4M by Sotheby's on February 10, 2015, lot 8. With 23 cuts spread in two rows, it is the most complex realization of the series. Fontana was aware that the success of this specimen was great, and he used it for the exceptional photographic report in which he unveiled the process of his creative act.
On March 6, 2018, Christie's sold for £ 8.7M a maximum sized Attese with 24 cuts in a single row, lot 17. This opus has some unique features. The matte white painted canvas is inserted into a black lacquered wood frame 68 x 203 x 5.5 cm which also includes an oblique bar. The glossy lacquer adds to the multidimensional illusion by reflecting the ambient room in the spirit of Pistoletto's mirror paintings.
Fontana commented his best works with an autograph inscription on the back side. He wrote about this one "Yesterday Tro-tro Klein visited me". Tro-tro is Klein's widow and Uecker's sister. Fontana has made a unique synthesis between his spatialism and the Zero Group's research on the expressive power of white monochromes.
This waterpaint on canvas 114 x 146 cm was executed in 1965. Fontana sometimes inscribed on the reverse a sentence marking his current occupation or interest. Here it reads "L'Ultima crono gela il Tour, primo Gimondi o Polidor ???", dating it exactly on Bastille day, 1965, when the Italian Felice Gimondi won the Tour de France in his first attempt, ahead of Raymond Poulidor.
White is a symbol of purity and a specially effective background for the gestural dance of the cuts.
A Concetto Spaziale - Attese 80 x 100 cm executed in 1965 in water-color white paint was sold for £ 8.4M by Sotheby's on February 10, 2015, lot 8. With 23 cuts spread in two rows, it is the most complex realization of the series. Fontana was aware that the success of this specimen was great, and he used it for the exceptional photographic report in which he unveiled the process of his creative act.
On March 6, 2018, Christie's sold for £ 8.7M a maximum sized Attese with 24 cuts in a single row, lot 17. This opus has some unique features. The matte white painted canvas is inserted into a black lacquered wood frame 68 x 203 x 5.5 cm which also includes an oblique bar. The glossy lacquer adds to the multidimensional illusion by reflecting the ambient room in the spirit of Pistoletto's mirror paintings.
Fontana commented his best works with an autograph inscription on the back side. He wrote about this one "Yesterday Tro-tro Klein visited me". Tro-tro is Klein's widow and Uecker's sister. Fontana has made a unique synthesis between his spatialism and the Zero Group's research on the expressive power of white monochromes.
