Lucio Fontana

Galleria Apollinaire, Milan
Galerie Bleue, Stockholm
Gallerie Bonnier, Geneva
Sotheby's, London, May 20, 1987, lot 369
Centro Arte Internazionale, Milan
Sotheby's, Milan, November 23, 1993, lot 176
Federico & Giuseppe Favetti, Milan
Acquired by the present owner from the above

Milan, Galleria Apollinaire, Fontana, October - November 1965
New York, Gagosian Gallery, Lucio Fontana: Ambienti Spaziali, May - June 2012, cat. no. 37, p. 342

Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. II, Brussels, 1974, cat. no 65-TE-30, pp. 174-175, illustrated
Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana Catalogo Generale, Vol. II, Milan, 1986, cat. no. 65-TE-77, p. 612, illustrated
Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana, Catalogo Ragionato di Sculture, Dipinti, Ambientazioni, Tomo II, Milan, 2006, cat. no 65-TE-77, p. 799, illustrated
Germano Celant, Lucio Fontana: Concetti Spaziali, Milan, 2012, p. 342, cat. no. 370

This work is in very good condition overall. There is evidence of wear and handling along the edges, resulting in minor losses along the green-painted wooden exterior. The canvas is buckling slightly in the upper left and lower right corners. There are light surface abrasions visible on the painted wooden exterior. Upon close inspection, there are scattered accretions and abrasions visible throughout the canvas. Under Ultraviolet light inspection, there is no evidence of restoration. Unframed.
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

As early as 1936 when collaborating with Milanese Rationalist architects Edoardo Perisco and Giancarlo Palanti on the ‘Salone della Vittoria’ for the VI Triennale di Milano, Lucio Fontana witnessed firsthand the dramatic integration of art and space on a monumental scale. Exploring the dynamic interplay of space, light and object, together they created a daringly proportioned, monochromatic space whose shimmering purity was so devouring that it produced sensations of disorientation, emptiness and containment in the viewer - effects Fontana sought to recreate in his Concetto Spaziale. This collaboration emphatically revealed to Fontana an environment’s capacity to arouse the senses to a level surpassing that of the conventional viewer-object relationship, and was to prove the creative germ for his lifelong investigation into Spazialismo.

Fontana’s integration of the artwork with the space surrounding it liberated creative endeavor from the shackles of the flat, painted canvas. Through a gestural vocabulary of cuts, tears and punches to physically and metaphorically open up the pictorial arena, Fontana revolutionized the conventional understanding and locus of an artwork, and by extension, the viewer’s relationship to it.

Like the artist’s neon light installations and large scale Ambienti spaziali of the late 1950s, Fontana’s Teatrini or ‘Little Theatres’ were neither regarded nor conceived as paintings but rather as entire, independent spatial environments. Executed simultaneously with the dawning age of space travel, the present work can be seen as a poetic expression of the cosmic mysteries awaiting mankind. Significantly the Teatrini marked a break from a purely abstract means of expression in favor of an altogether more radical semi-figurative idiom.

In Concetto Spaziale, Teatrino, the manipulation of light and shadow, form and void provides a poetic embodiment of Fontana’s artistic and philosophical ideals, and reflects his ability to infuse materials with a life of their own. As Enrico Crispolti noted, "These Teatrini represent a further, extremely original and by no means marginal reply by Fontana to artistic problems which arise in connection with the appeal of 'pop art' [...] The neatness of the lacquered frame, the clean quality of the skyscapes, indicate a will towards objectified figuration, a sort of spatial spectacle which Fontana presents with an almost classical composure of imagination” (Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. I, Brussels 1974, p. 139).