Piero Manzoni

Archivio Opera Piero Manzoni, Milano
Collezione privata, Brescia

Londra, Mazzoleni Art, Piero Manzoni. Achromes: Linea infinita, 2016, p. 100, illustrato

Germano Celant, Piero Manzoni. Catalogo generale, Vol. II, Milano 2004, p. 540, n. 995, illustrato
Francesca Pola, Una visione internazionale: Piero Manzoni e Albisola, Milano 2013, pp. 131, 148, n. 92, illustrato

This work appears to be in very good overall condition and it has been restored to its original condition in collaboration with the Fondazione Piero Manzoni, Milan.
"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."

Opera riportata alle condizioni originali in collaborazione con la Fondazione Piero Manzoni, Milano

L'opera è "autosignificante", non illustra o rimanda a nient'altro che a se stessa, divenendo una "superficie ininterrotta e continua (da cui sia escluso ogni intervento del superfluo, ogni possibilità interpretativa)", un oggetto "che è e basta: essere (e essere totale è puro divenire)", come scrive in Libera dimensione (in "Azimuth", n. 2, Milano, 1960). E' un entità neutra e incolore, "infinita" sia nel tempo perché "ripetibile all'infinito" sia nello spazio perché, potenzialmente, i tessuti cuciti, i batuffoli di ovatta o i panni apposti sul supporto potrebbero proliferare ed espandersi oltre i confini dell'oggetto-quadro. In estrema sintesi l'Achrome può definirsi come la totalità della realtà, dell'"essere" che prende "corpo". 

Gaspare Luigi Marcone, in Piero Manzoni, catalogo della mostra, Milano, Palazzo Reale, 2014, p. 155

The work does not illustrate nor refer to anyhting other than itself. It becomes a continuous surface which excludes any superfluous intervention, any interpretative possibility. An object 'that simply is': being (and total being is pure becoming), as he writes in "Libera dimensione" (in "Azimuth", n.2, Milano,1960). It is a neutral and colourless entity, 'infinite' both in time - because endlessly repeatable - and space, because potentially the sewn fabrics, the cotton bolls or the rags used, could proliferate and expand over the boundaries of the picture-object.
In extreme synthesis, the Achrome can be defined as the totality of reality, of the embodied being.

Gaspare Luigi Marcone, in Piero Manzoni, catalogo della mostra, Milano, Palazzo Reale, 2014, p. 155