Lucio Fontana

U. Loehr, Frankfurt
Private Collection, Milan (acquired in 1975)

Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana Catalogo Generale, Vol. II, Milan 1986, p. 540, no. 64 T 130, illustrated
Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana, Catalogo Ragionato di Sculture, Dipinti, Ambientazioni, Milan 2006, p. 726, no. 64 T 130, illustrated

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate. Condition: This work is in very good condition. No restoration is visible under ultraviolet 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."

Rhythmically spaced as though notes dancing across sheet music, five sharp incisions into luscious red waterpaint and canvas brilliantly announce the present work as belonging to one of the most celebrated artistic series of all-time: Lucio Fontana's Attese, an iteration of the Concetti Spaziali (Spatial Concepts). The cuts gently incline in overall harmony, even as their varied lengths suggest movement, energy and action. Executed in 1964, the passionately red monochrome and its elegantly fissured surface deliver a mesmerising and commanding exemplar of Fontana's revolutionary interventions into the canvas fibre. By discarding traditional reverence for this surface as an illusionistic window onto another world, Fontana's radical gesture cuts open artifice and exposes the abyssal black behind such an artistic fallacy.

Meticulously executed via a technique both painterly and tactile, Fontana began the present work by saturating the canvas ground with emulsion in pure monochrome. While still damp, the work was positioned on an easel and cut with a Stanley knife in a single, precise downward movement. The canvas was then left to dry with the incision in place. Finally, Fontana would engorge and gently open out the cut with his hand, a gesture described by a close friend of Fontana's as a "caress" (Sarah Whitfield, 'Handling Space' in: Exhibition Catalogue, London, Hayward Gallery, Lucio Fontana, 2000, p. 18). Richly suggestive, we are left with a multitude of symbolic and theoretical allusions.

Having articulated his theory of Spatialism in five manifestos between 1946 and 1952, Fontana forged significant advancements in artistic thought, seeking to engage technology towards discovering a fourth dimension and Infinity. Almost exclusively a sculptor until his forties, Fontana's paintings challenge the barriers between two-dimensional canvas and three-dimensional art object. In the present work, Fontana dissects the very concept of painting, undermining forever the flat picture plane. As Fontana declared in his last recorded interview: "I make a hole in a canvas in order to leave behind the old pictorial formulae, the painting and the traditional view of art and I escape, symbolically, but also materially, from the prison of the flat surface" (in conversation with Tommaso Trini, 19 July 1968 in: Exhibition Catalogue, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum; London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Lucio Fontana, 1988, p.34).