Lucio Fontana

Formerly in the collection of Roberto Fallani and Paola Fallani, née Crema Nicla Boncompagni

Cf: Vittorio Sgarbi, Valenza e l'arte del gioiello - Gioielli d'artista, Valenza, 2015, pg. 66 for the 'Concetto Spaziale Taglio' bangle dated 1967-1968.

Lucio Fontana cited in: Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana, Catalogo ragionata di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, tomo I, Milan 2006, p. 105.

Lucio Fontana cited in: Exh. Cat., New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Lucio Fontana: Venice/New York, 2006, p. 23. 

Valenza e l'arte del gioiello - Gioielli d'artista, Valenza, 2015, where this jewel was exhibited, pg. 66 in the catalogue.

Jewels by Lucio Fontana

Executed in 1967-1968, at the apex of the artist’s critically acclaimed career, this bangle displays an incision that perforates an otherwise smooth and pristine polished surface. The cut transports the viewer into a dynamic sculptural realm of space and depth, epitomising Fontana’s intent “to give the spectator an impression of spatial calm, of cosmic rigor, of serenity in infinity.”

Fontana was deeply inspired by the ground-breaking developments in cosmic exploration which came to define the twentieth century. He sought to express a seminal redefinition of the concept of space within art. Having advanced his intellectual theory of Spatialism over five formative manifestos, Fontana forged a path toward radical advancements in artistic ideology that aimed to engage technology and find expression for a fourth dimension: space-time. As the artist proclaimed, “My cuts are above all a philosophical statement, an act of faith in the infinite, an affirmation of spirituality. When I sit down to contemplate one of my cuts, I sense all at once an enlargement of the spirit, I feel like a man freed from the shackles of matter; a man at one with the immensity of the present and of the future.”

Jewellery was another medium through which to represent inhabited space around the object and intensify the contrast and depth of the cut using the reflections of natural light onto the object while being worn. Fontana developed many jewellery designs, in which elliptical and oval shapes are favored. GEM of Montebello, the Milanese metalsmiths, notably produced a number of Fontana designs as serial editions. Of this bangle, however, only four examples are recorded, making it a remarkable example of his conceptual work in precious metal.