Lucio Fontana

Marcel Stal, Brussels
Galleria Internazionale, Milan
Centro Arte Internazionale, Milan
Moroni Collection, Mitano
Galleria Paolo Seno, Milan
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 1985

Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana Catologo Generale,  Vol II, Milan 1986, p. 459, no. 63 T 38, illustrated
Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: Catologo Ragionato di Sculture, Dipinti, Ambientazioni, Vol II, Milan 2006, p. 645, no. 63 T 38, illustrated

Executed in 1959, Concetto Spaziale, Attese represents an important work in the development of Lucio Fontana's most iconic series of 'tagli' or 'cuts' on canvas. Exquisitely crafted with disciplined precision, the sharp cuts take on a neat parallel rhythm, vertically traversing the canvas and tracing the course of the artist's hand. Almost meditative in its effect, their linear configuration is both clean-cut and absolute, the vibrant yellow surface here is penetrated to reveal the dark depths beneath. Celebrating the simplicity of his material and the visual drama of his gestures upon it, Fontana works the canvas like a sculptor, incising and shaping the cuts into the canvas. By breaking through the flat picture plane, he creates a contradictory impulse to go beyond the material, into the unknown, a fourth dimension. His penetration of the canvas interrogates an imaginary space, evoking infinite depth with each laceration. In Concetto Spaziale, Attese, Fontana succeeds in showcasing the effects of gravity, creating the illusion of mass whilst suggesting a tension in the surface of the canvas. Although the cuts embody a certain degree of violence, the lyrical regularity of the composition and the pattern of pause and silence, restores equilibrium to the this exquisite example.