Lucio Fontana

Sergio Dangelo, Milan
Private Collection, Milan
Sale: Brearte, Milan, 11 March 1985
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Venice, Chiesa di San Samuele, Antiquariato di domani. Antologia della Pittura Italiana dagli inizi alla metà del '900, 1984, pp. 154-155, no. 82, illustrated in colour
Sartirana, Castello di Sartirana, Anni Cinquanta. Pittura in Lombardia, Piemonte e Liguaria, 1991, illustrated

Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana Catalogue Raisonné, Brussels 1974, Vol. II, p. 40, no. 56 P 44, illustrated
Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana Catalogo Generale, Milan 1986, Vol. I, p. 148, no. 56 P 44, illustrated
Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana Catalogo Ragionato, Milan 2006, Vol. I, p. 288, no. 56 P 44, illustrated

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustrations are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is slightly cooler. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There are thin and stable hairline cracks to the thickest areas of the white impasto, which appear to have been stabilized, and with a few associated paint losses as visible in the catalogue illustration. Close inspection reveals a small area of wear to the right centre of the canvas. No restoration is visible under ultra violet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Displaying beautiful and lyrical curling swathes of impasto, Lucio Fontana's breathtaking Concetto spaziale belongs to the highly acclaimed Pietre series, which the artist created from 1951 to 1958. While included into this very significant body of works, the present painting stands very much on its own in terms of importance. Whereas its surface does not display the signature stones, the great sense of movement of the composition places Concetto spaziale within the highest tier of works from this series and significantly represents a bridge with the artist's own Barocchi cycle that had explored thick crusty surfaces. While other examples from this cycle are now housed in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, the Centre Pompidou, Paris, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna, Rome and the van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, this jewelled work is a truly sublime exhibition of Fontana's Spatialism still in private hands, and is of major importance as a cornerstone of one of the most ground-breaking artistic philosophies of the Twentieth Century.

Immediately impressive is the stunning freshness and utter vitality of the luminous silvery grey pigment, its brightness amplified through contrast with the intense black background and the beautifully composed buchi. Since first puncturing his canvas in 1949, Fontana had been singularly committed to the Spatialist mission to explore the conceptual depths beyond the limits of the two-dimensional picture plane. During the mid-1950s he was working in at least five artistic modes, including the Pietre, Buchi, the Barocchi and the Gessi, and the present work, executed in 1956, represents the climax of this tremendously active period. By adding broken pieces of solid glass to the paint surface Fontana introduced sculptural projections into the space in front of the canvas. In the present work the thick curls of paint are acting as counterparts to the recessions of the geometrically organised buchi: the voids of the holes are contrasted with the boldly protruding swathes of impasto, creating a landscape of diametrically opposed forces. This balance between recession and protrusion is highly conceptual, as Crispolti has described: "The 'holes', in fact, represent a spatial 'other side' with respect to the surface of the canvas, while the material concretions and the 'stones' on the surface represent 'this side', creating a different spatial allusion, but also iconographic suggestions of a prevalently cosmic nature" (Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana Catalogo Ragionato, Vol. I, Milan 2006, p. 31).

From the expanse of black-painted canvas weave, to the thick, grainy layers of silvery grey pigment, the present work constantly reminds us that until his late 1940s Fontana had been exclusively a sculptor and possessed an instinctive grasp of three-dimensions. The strong sense of movement orchestrated by the impasto is held in equilibrium by the underlying disposition of holes, and this dynamic relationship also reveals the importance of both the Baroque and Futurism to Fontana's Spatialism. Furthermore, the dominant circular dynamic of the brush-strokes is immediately evocative of the spiralling Milky Way galaxy; an analogy that presciently parallels the earliest investigations into Space exploration that were starting to happen at that time and became so important to both Fontana's aesthetic and Spatialist philosophy.

A symphony of simultaneous penetration and eruption, the surface of Concetto spaziale is animated with the tension of exactly diametric forces. The geometric buchi pierce a window into an unknown space beyond, while the thick curving strokes of paint are a sculptural assault on space in front of the picture plane.  As Anthony White has explained, "The Concetto spaziale engaged the viewer with an opulent vision of radiance that extended into real architectural space beyond the limited and private pictorial plane" (Anthony White, 'Lucio Fontana: Between Utopia and Kitsch', Grey Room, No. 5, Autumn 2001, p. 70). Conceived the year after two solo shows in Milan, as well as exhibitions in Cannes and Madrid, the year of this work also saw shows in Australia, Cincinnati and his participation in the VII Quadriennale Nazionale d'Arte in Rome, which included paintings from this stones cycle. Clearly Fontana's reputation by this time was well-established and Concetto spaziale is the product of a confident maestro at the height of his creative powers. Dedicated to the artist Sergio Dangelo on the reverse and having originally resided in his collection, Concetto spaziale also testifies the special relationship and artistic osmosis between two artists.