/https%3A%2F%2Fprofilepics.canalblog.com%2Fprofilepics%2F1%2F0%2F100183.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fstorage.canalblog.com%2F03%2F02%2F119589%2F96711876_o.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fstorage.canalblog.com%2F11%2F31%2F119589%2F94773502_o.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fstorage.canalblog.com%2F20%2F83%2F119589%2F94772815_o.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fstorage.canalblog.com%2F26%2F72%2F119589%2F75604929_o.jpg)
/https%3A%2F%2Fstorage.canalblog.com%2F59%2F60%2F119589%2F26458628_o.jpg)
28 janvier 2012
Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Concetto spaziale, Attese
Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Concetto spaziale, Attese. Christie's Images Ltd 2012
signed, titled and inscribed 'l. fontana Concetto Spaziale ATTESE 1+1-AZ3XY' (on the reverse); waterpaint on canvas ; 39 3/8 x 28¾in. (100 x 73cm.) . Executed in 1962 . Estimate: £600,000 - £900,000
Provenance: Cattaneo Collection, Brescia.
Barney Weinger Gallery, New York.
Hubertus Wald, Hamburg, by whom acquired from the above in 1971.
Literature: E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: Catalogue raisonné des peintures, sculptures et environnements spatiaux, vol. II, Brussels 1974, no. 62 T 4, p. 136 (illustrated, p. 131; with incorrect dimensions).
E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: Catalogo generale, vol. II, Milan 1986, no. 62 T 4 (illustrated, p. 442; with incorrect dimensions).
E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: Catalogo ragionato di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, vol. II, Milan 2006, no. 62 T 4 (illustrated, p. 629; with incorrect dimensions).
Exhibited: Hamburg, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Sammlung Wald, 2003.
Notes: 'With the slash I invented a formula that I don't think I can perfect. I managed with this formula to give the spectator an impression of spatial calm, of cosmic rigour, of serenity in infinity' (L. Fontana quoted in E. Crispolti (ed.), Lucio Fontana: Catalogo ragionato di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, vol. I, Milan 2006, p. 105).
Created in 1962, Concetto spaziale, Attese is an elegant and large-scale work from the height of Lucio Fontana's pioneering Spatial Art practice. Repeated across the mysterious, hematite-grey canvas are a series of four rhythmic tagli or cuts. Immortalised in each intrusion is the physical act of its making, the powerful incursion of the artist's Stanley knife penetrating the canvas. The largest of the four cuts assumes the focal point of the work, gliding from its top to bottom in a sensual curve that is flanked on either side by three further, graceful cuts. Incised with a deft and almost balletic motion, they reveal the infinite darkness of 'free-space' stretching out beyond the picture plane. This approach was intended to challenge the viewer's understanding of the painting as a mere carrier of narrative, or illustrator of meaning. Instead, the artist hoped to promote the properties of light and air as they transcend the medium. Fontana's avant-garde gesture also sought to embody the dynamism of man and the age of scientific and technological progress at the dawn of a new Space age. As he once concluded, 'Einstein's discovery of the cosmos is the infinite dimension, without end. And so here we have: foreground, middleground and background... to go farther what do I have to do?... I make holes, infinity passes through them, light passes through them, there is no need to paint' (L. Fontana quoted in E. Crispolti, 'Spatialism and Informel: The Fifties', pp. 144-150, E. Crispolti & R. Siligato (eds.), Lucio Fontana, exh. cat., Milan, 1998, p. 146).
One of the leading figures of the Post-War European avant-garde, Lucio Fontana pioneered a new conceptual way of working on canvas. Relocating from Argentina to Milan in 1947, he was a founding proponent of the concept of Spazialismo, a radical revision of the purposes of cultural production that advocated 'art based on the unity of time and space' (Manifesto Blanco, Buenos Aires, 1946 reproduced in E. Crispolti et al. (eds.), Lucio Fontana, Milan 1998, p. 116). Turning away from the materialism of recent practice, in particular the Art Informel so prevalent in Europe, Fontana began to investigate the possibilities of raw materials and their role as an active element in the definition of space. In this project, Fontana was deeply engaged with the geopolitical context of the new Nuclear age, characterised by advances in quantum physics and pioneering space exploration. Indeed, Fontana was impressed by the radical events occurring in 1961, when Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, circumnavigating the Earth in the Soviet spacecraft Vostok in just one hour and forty-eight minutes. These developments were rapidly changing the context of contemporary life and Fontana believed that as a modern artist the only way forward was to embrace scientific potential and create a new realm for artistic exploration. Indeed this aspiration was intimated by the artist's title: 'Attesa' or 'Expectation'.
Through creating a cut on canvas Fontana was elucidating the mysteries of light, 'the most intense moment of luminosity [occurring] at the point where the slightly curving planes at each side of the cut meet the slit of dark space' (G. Celant quoted in S. Whitfield (ed.), Lucio Fontana, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1999-2000, p. 42). He also sought to depict movement, an ambition shared with the pre-war Italian Futurists, who had proudly declared in their first manifesto: 'the gesture which we would reproduce on canvas shall no longer be a fixed moment in universal dynamism. It will be dynamic sensation itself' (U. Boccioni et al., 'Futurist Painting: Technical Manifesto', 1910 reproduced in C. Harrison and P. Wood (eds.), Art in Theory 1900-1990, Cambridge 1993, p. 150). Through the apparently simple gesture of striking through the canvas, Fontana remarkably achieved both, permitting air and light to penetrate through it, forever engaging its surface.
In spite of the spontaneity implied by the gesture, Fontana's Concetto spaziale, Attese was in fact the result of a deeply premeditated process. As he once explained, 'they think it's easy to make a cut or a hole, but it's not true. You have no idea how much stuff I throw away. The idea has to be realised with precision' (L. Fontana quoted in G. Ballo, Lucio Fontana, New York 1971, p. 45, quoted in S. Whitfield (ed.), Lucio Fontana, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1999-2000, p. 42). As chronicled in the famous series of photographs taken by Ugo Mulas in the artist's studio, Fontana would prepare himself, standing erect at some distance from the easel, until the appropriate physical and mental concentration gripped him. As he told Mulas at the time, 'I really have to be in the right mood to perform this task' (L. Fontana quoted in U. Mulas, La Fotografia, Turin 1973 quoted in S. Whitfield (ed.), Lucio Fontana, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1999-2000, p. 31).
Fontana openly embraced the metaphysical enquiry of his time. In Concetto spaziale, Attese this is articulated through the multiple strikes of the artist's blade, opening the dusky twilight of the grey canvas to light and air. As Fontana himself once explained, 'with the slash I invented a formula that I don't think I can perfect. I managed with this formula to give the spectator an impression of spatial calm, of cosmic rigour, of serenity in infinity' (L. Fontana quoted in E. Crispolti (ed.), Lucio Fontana: Catalogo ragionato di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, vol. I, Milan 2006, p. 105).
Created in 1962, Concetto spaziale, Attese is an elegant and large-scale work from the height of Lucio Fontana's pioneering Spatial Art practice. Repeated across the mysterious, hematite-grey canvas are a series of four rhythmic tagli or cuts. Immortalised in each intrusion is the physical act of its making, the powerful incursion of the artist's Stanley knife penetrating the canvas. The largest of the four cuts assumes the focal point of the work, gliding from its top to bottom in a sensual curve that is flanked on either side by three further, graceful cuts. Incised with a deft and almost balletic motion, they reveal the infinite darkness of 'free-space' stretching out beyond the picture plane. This approach was intended to challenge the viewer's understanding of the painting as a mere carrier of narrative, or illustrator of meaning. Instead, the artist hoped to promote the properties of light and air as they transcend the medium. Fontana's avant-garde gesture also sought to embody the dynamism of man and the age of scientific and technological progress at the dawn of a new Space age. As he once concluded, 'Einstein's discovery of the cosmos is the infinite dimension, without end. And so here we have: foreground, middleground and background... to go farther what do I have to do?... I make holes, infinity passes through them, light passes through them, there is no need to paint' (L. Fontana quoted in E. Crispolti, 'Spatialism and Informel: The Fifties', pp. 144-150, E. Crispolti & R. Siligato (eds.), Lucio Fontana, exh. cat., Milan, 1998, p. 146).
One of the leading figures of the Post-War European avant-garde, Lucio Fontana pioneered a new conceptual way of working on canvas. Relocating from Argentina to Milan in 1947, he was a founding proponent of the concept of Spazialismo, a radical revision of the purposes of cultural production that advocated 'art based on the unity of time and space' (Manifesto Blanco, Buenos Aires, 1946 reproduced in E. Crispolti et al. (eds.), Lucio Fontana, Milan 1998, p. 116). Turning away from the materialism of recent practice, in particular the Art Informel so prevalent in Europe, Fontana began to investigate the possibilities of raw materials and their role as an active element in the definition of space. In this project, Fontana was deeply engaged with the geopolitical context of the new Nuclear age, characterised by advances in quantum physics and pioneering space exploration. Indeed, Fontana was impressed by the radical events occurring in 1961, when Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, circumnavigating the Earth in the Soviet spacecraft Vostok in just one hour and forty-eight minutes. These developments were rapidly changing the context of contemporary life and Fontana believed that as a modern artist the only way forward was to embrace scientific potential and create a new realm for artistic exploration. Indeed this aspiration was intimated by the artist's title: 'Attesa' or 'Expectation'.
Through creating a cut on canvas Fontana was elucidating the mysteries of light, 'the most intense moment of luminosity [occurring] at the point where the slightly curving planes at each side of the cut meet the slit of dark space' (G. Celant quoted in S. Whitfield (ed.), Lucio Fontana, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1999-2000, p. 42). He also sought to depict movement, an ambition shared with the pre-war Italian Futurists, who had proudly declared in their first manifesto: 'the gesture which we would reproduce on canvas shall no longer be a fixed moment in universal dynamism. It will be dynamic sensation itself' (U. Boccioni et al., 'Futurist Painting: Technical Manifesto', 1910 reproduced in C. Harrison and P. Wood (eds.), Art in Theory 1900-1990, Cambridge 1993, p. 150). Through the apparently simple gesture of striking through the canvas, Fontana remarkably achieved both, permitting air and light to penetrate through it, forever engaging its surface.
In spite of the spontaneity implied by the gesture, Fontana's Concetto spaziale, Attese was in fact the result of a deeply premeditated process. As he once explained, 'they think it's easy to make a cut or a hole, but it's not true. You have no idea how much stuff I throw away. The idea has to be realised with precision' (L. Fontana quoted in G. Ballo, Lucio Fontana, New York 1971, p. 45, quoted in S. Whitfield (ed.), Lucio Fontana, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1999-2000, p. 42). As chronicled in the famous series of photographs taken by Ugo Mulas in the artist's studio, Fontana would prepare himself, standing erect at some distance from the easel, until the appropriate physical and mental concentration gripped him. As he told Mulas at the time, 'I really have to be in the right mood to perform this task' (L. Fontana quoted in U. Mulas, La Fotografia, Turin 1973 quoted in S. Whitfield (ed.), Lucio Fontana, exh. cat., Hayward Gallery, London, 1999-2000, p. 31).
Fontana openly embraced the metaphysical enquiry of his time. In Concetto spaziale, Attese this is articulated through the multiple strikes of the artist's blade, opening the dusky twilight of the grey canvas to light and air. As Fontana himself once explained, 'with the slash I invented a formula that I don't think I can perfect. I managed with this formula to give the spectator an impression of spatial calm, of cosmic rigour, of serenity in infinity' (L. Fontana quoted in E. Crispolti (ed.), Lucio Fontana: Catalogo ragionato di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, vol. I, Milan 2006, p. 105).
Christie's. Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction. 14 February 2012. London, King Street www.christies.com
/image%2F1371349%2F20241202%2Fob_5c7dc8_telechargement.jpg)
/image%2F1371349%2F20240929%2Fob_029127_461508325-1764997940936884-36387128272.jpg)
/image%2F1371349%2F20240313%2Fob_3da818_431115881-1632814154155264-57534444325.jpg)
/image%2F1371349%2F20240312%2Fob_cc9c83_f2.jpg)
Commentaires