Lucio Fontana
Concetto Spaziale, Attese, 1964–65
Signed 'l. Fontana;' titled 'Concetto Spaziale, ATTESE;' inscribed 'oggi é il 21 aprile domani il 22...' (at the reverse)
Waterpaint on canvas
38 by 71.3 cm (15 by 21½ in.)
48459
© 2023 Fondation Lucio Fontana / Artists Rights Society (Ars), New York
Further images
Painted in 1964–65. Six precise slashes punctuate an intensely saturated crimson ground in Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, Attese, from 1964–65, which is a dynamic mid-sized example from his most renowned...
Painted in 1964–65.
Six precise slashes punctuate an intensely saturated crimson ground in Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, Attese, from 1964–65, which is a dynamic mid-sized example from his most renowned and celebrated body of work. These iconic tagli (cuts) propose a Zen-like dismantling of traditional pictorial space within painting and expand the genre’s parameters of which the artist described as “the beginning of a sculpture in space.” [1] The present painting is a testament to his long-term interest in the void, or a proposed fourth dimension, and the slashes were an attempt to visually create depth and space within a two-dimensional surface. Conjuring cuts or wounds, the tagli were executed with a commonplace Stanley knife and add a sensual violence to abstract painting that was never witnessed previously. Fontana began puncturing his canvases around 1949 in post-war Milan with bucchi, or holes. These evolved into the tagli works beginning in 1958, which he produced until his death a decade later. Fontana shifted the quantity and intensity of the cuts across various colored grounds and formats. The crimson examples are particularly striking and command top prices at auction.
[1] Quoted from a gallery label at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, accessible via https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79874
Six precise slashes punctuate an intensely saturated crimson ground in Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, Attese, from 1964–65, which is a dynamic mid-sized example from his most renowned and celebrated body of work. These iconic tagli (cuts) propose a Zen-like dismantling of traditional pictorial space within painting and expand the genre’s parameters of which the artist described as “the beginning of a sculpture in space.” [1] The present painting is a testament to his long-term interest in the void, or a proposed fourth dimension, and the slashes were an attempt to visually create depth and space within a two-dimensional surface. Conjuring cuts or wounds, the tagli were executed with a commonplace Stanley knife and add a sensual violence to abstract painting that was never witnessed previously. Fontana began puncturing his canvases around 1949 in post-war Milan with bucchi, or holes. These evolved into the tagli works beginning in 1958, which he produced until his death a decade later. Fontana shifted the quantity and intensity of the cuts across various colored grounds and formats. The crimson examples are particularly striking and command top prices at auction.
[1] Quoted from a gallery label at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, accessible via https://www.moma.org/collection/works/79874