Lucio Fontana

Teresita Rasini Fontana, Milan

Marlborough Gallery, Rome

Kasper Koenig, Cologne

Private Collection

Krefeld, Galerie Merian Edition, Lucio Fontana, 1899-1968, September – October 1973, n.p., illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Caracas, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo,  Lucio Fontana, November 1974 – January 1975, p. 24, no. 32, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Verbania-Pallanza, Museo del Paesaggio, Biennale Internazionale di scultura contemporanea, Aptico: Il Senso della Scultura, July – September 1976, n.p., illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Milan, Palazzo Reale, La Donazione Lucio Fontana: proposta per una sistemazione museografica, November 1978 – January 1979, p. 107, no. 74, illustrated (terracotta version)

Florence, Palazzo Pitti, Fontana, April – June 1980, n.p., no. 38, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Milan, PAC, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Pubblico Privato, Omaggio al Mecenatismo, June – August 1981 (edition no. unknown)

Milan, Palazzo della Permanente, Il segno della pittura e della scultura, 1983, p. 221, no. 1 (text), p. 56, installation view (terracotta version)

Milan, CIMAC, Civico Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Palazzo Reale, Arte italiana 1900-1980, May 1984 (terracotta version)

Tokyo, The Contemporary Art Gallery, Seibu-Ikebukuro, Fontana, March 1984, n.p., no. 21, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Bologna, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Scultura e ceramica in Italia nel Novecento, October – November 1989, p. 85, no. 52, installation view (terracotta version)

Milan, Palazzo della Permanente, Scultura a Milano 1945-1990, June – July 1990, pp. 65 and 174, illustrated (terracotta version)

Tokyo, The Yomiuri Shimbun and Mitsukoshi Museum; Kagoshima, Museo Municipale d’Arte; Nishinomiya, Otani Museum of Art, Lucio Fontana, La penetrazione dello spazio, April – November 1992, p. 107, no. 76, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Varese, Castello di Masnago, Scultura a Varese, dal verismo a oggi, June – September 1994, p. 59, no. 45, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Fontana, September 1994 – January 1995, p. 129, no. 81, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Venice, Giardini di Castello, Padiglione Italia, 46° Esposizione Internazionale d’Arte. Identitá e alteritá, figure del corpo 1895-1995, 1995, p. 514, no. IX, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Prato, Museo Pecci, Burri e Fontana 1949-1968, April – June 1996, p. 169, no. 30, illustrated (terracotta version)

Frankfurt, Schirn Kunsthalle; and Vienna, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Lucio Fontana, Retrospektive, June 1996 – January 1997, pp. 201, 222 and 223, no. 159 and 161, illustrated in colour (edition no. unknown)

Palma de Mallorca, Fundació La Caixa; and Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Lucio Fontana, Entre matéria I espai, June – November 1998, p. 105, no. 56, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Milan, PAC, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea; Triennale di Milano; Museo Diocesano; Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera; Museo Teatrale alla Scala; Centenario di Lucio Fontana, Cinque mostre a Milano: Lucio Fontana, Idee e capolavori, April – June 1999, pp. 58 and 124, no. I, 114; IV, 18, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

London, Hayward Gallery, Lucio Fontana, October 1999 – January 2000, p. 35, no. 17, installation view (terracotta version)

Rio de Janeiro, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil and São Paulo, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Lucio Fontana, A òtica do invisivel, November 2001 – June 2002, p. 131, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Burgdorf, Museum Franz Gertsch, Lucio Fontana,  April – June 2004, p. 141, no. 94, illustrated in colour (edition no. unknown)

New York, Gagosian Gallery, Lucio Fontana, Ambiente Spaziali, 2012, p. 257, no. 281, illustrated in colour (edition no. unknown)

Paris, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Lucio Fontana, 2014, n.p., no. 148 (edition no. unknown)

London, Skarstedt, Burning, Cutting, Nailing: Klein, Fontana, Uecker, June 11 - July 31, 2015, p. 47 and p. 56, illustrated in colour, p. 101, installation view

Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana, Catalogue Raisonné des Peintures et Environments Spatiaux, Vol. II, Brussels 1974, p 107, no. 59/60 N 25, illustrated (terracotta version)

Enrico Crispolti, Erotismo nell’arte astratta (e alter schede per una iconologia dell’arte astratta), Trapani 1976, p. 169, no. 9, illustrated (terracotta version)

Exh. Cat., Milan, Palazzo della Permanente, Il segno della pittura e della scultura,  September – October 1983, p. 56, no. 1, illustrated (edition no. unknown)  

Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana, Catalogo Generale, Vol. I, Milan 1986, p. 356, no. 59-60 N 25, illustrated (terracotta version)

Angela Vettese, ‘I buchi dello scandalo’, in: Il Sole-24 Ore, Milan, 2 October 1994, p. 36, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Athos Tromboni, ‘Fontana, una mostra di spessore’, in: La Nuova Ferrara, Ferrara, 8 January 1995, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Enrico Crispolti, Ed., Fontana, Milan 1999, p. 194, no. 202, illustrated (edition no. unknown)

Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana, Catalogo Ragionato di Sculture, Dipinti, Ambientazioni, Vol. I, Milan 2006, p. 536, no. 59-60 N 25, illustrated (terracotta version)

Germano Celant, Lucio Fontana: Ambienti Spaziali, Milan 2012, n.p., no. 280-281, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colour in the catalogue illustration is fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is greener in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals a short hairline scratch to the left hand side of the sculpture, as per the catalogue illustration. There are a few spots of white surface irregularities in isolated places throughout, most notably to the hollow and the base of the sculpture.
"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."

“I was thinking of those worlds, of the moon with these... holes, this terrible silence that causes anguish, and the astronauts in a new world. And so... in the artist's fantasy... these immense things have been there for billions of years... man arrives, in mortal silence, in this anguish, and leaves a vital sign of his arrival... they were these still forms with a sign of wanting to make inert matter live, weren't they?"

Lucio Fontana cited in: Exh. Cat., London, Ben Brown Fine Arts, Lucio Fontana: Paintings, Sculptures and Drawings, 2005, p. 79.