Provenance
Galleria Sant'Erasmo, Milan; Nahmad Collection, New York
Literature
E. Crispolti, Fontana Catalogo generale, vol. II, Electa, Milan, 1986, p. 542 (illustrated); E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana. Catalogo ragionato di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, vol. II, no. 64 T 138, Milan, 2006, p. 727 (illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
Lucio Fontana’s extraordinary Concetto Spaziale, Attesa from 1964 is as stunning in its colour as it is in its form. It is a prime example of Fontana’s well-known series of Tagli (slashes) paintings, through which he explored the third dimension in painting. The astonishing form of this work, which is almost unique in Fontana’s oeuvre, is achieved by the simple 45˚ rotation of the square-shaped canvas. There are only seven Concetto Spaziale, Attesa works by Fontana like this, compared to hundreds of conventional rectangular ones, and the current lot is the largest of these alongside a red example of the same size.
The painting is reduced to its fundamental components – material, size and colour – to echo the universal qualities within painting. The canvas – the traditional supporting material of an easel painting – is grounded in an almost Kleinian blue. Furthermore, the monochrome emphasizes the form of the artwork and is the only counterpart to the main focus, the centred slash. Made at a time when artistic innovations were considered political actions, Fontana’s creative/destructive style is often associated with the cultural politics of his time, enacting a blow for freedom from tradition and against the authority of the past. And as with the present lot, it is upon the surface that Fontana chooses to express his political views, and with which he visually distances himself from past painterly traditions. In this search for a new aesthetic, his main objective is the idea of a revised spatial context.
Fontana’s cuts go beyond the political actions or previously imposed artistic and cultural tradition. His deliberate and elegantly executed penetrations of the canvas create an artistic language all of their own – they are slits that respond to the imagination and pictorially provide a framework for depth. They are signs, benchmarks that point to new dimensions beyond the perforations and that is vital to the work’s symbolic power.
‘Concetto Spaziale, Attese’ is archived in Lucio Fontana’s catalogue raisonnée as 64 T 138 (Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana Catalogo Ragionato, Vol. II, Milan, 2006, p. 727). It is a striking, visceral and tactile object that conveys a powerful sense of immediacy. The artist’s respect for the advancements of science and technology during the20th century led him to approach his art as a series of investigations into a wide variety of mediums and methods. As a sculptor, he experimented with stone, metals, ceramics, and neon; as a painter he attempted to transcend the confines of the two-dimensional surface. In the mid-1940s, Fontana announced his goals for a ‘spatialist’ art, one that could engage technology to achieve an expression of the fourth dimension. He wanted to meld the categories of architecture, sculpture, and painting to create a groundbreaking new aesthetic idiom.
“I do not want to make painting; I want to open up space, create a new dimension for art, tie in with the cosmos, as it endlessly expands beyond the confining plane of the picture. With my innovation with the whole pierced through the canvas in repetitive formations, I have not attempted to decorate a surface, but on the contrary, I have tried to break its dimensional limitations. Beyond the perforations, a newly gained freedom of interpretations awaits us…” (Lucio Fontana, 1966)
“With the slash I invented a formula that I don’t think I can perfect. I managed with this formula to give the spectator an impression of spatial calm, of cosmic rigour, of serenity in infinity.” (Lucio Fontana, quoted in E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: Catalogo ragionato di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, vol. I, Milan, 2006, p. 105)

4

Lucio Fontana

Concetto spaziale, Attesa

1964
Waterpaint on canvas.
Canvas: 60 × 60 cm (23 3/5 × 23 3/5 in); as installed: 85 x 85 cm (33 1/2 x 33 1/2 in).
Signed, titled and inscrived 'L. Fontana Concetto Spaziale Attesa Ha llegado un amigo mio de B. Aires' on the reverse.

Estimate
£400,000 - 600,000

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Feb 2011
London

1
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £213,650
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2
Mary Heilmann
Rude Boy
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ‡
Sold for £103,250
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3
Jim Lambie
Night Divides the Day
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £91,250
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4
Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale, Attesa
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000
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5
Günther Uecker
Mutation
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ♠
Sold for £223,250
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6
Robert Morris
Felt
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000
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7
Georg Herold
Untitled
Estimate £40,000 - 60,000 ♠
Sold for £121,250
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8
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £361,250
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9
Peter Fischli and David Weiss
4 Hostessen (4 Stewardesses)
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £277,250
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10
Rudolf Stingel
Untitled
Estimate £350,000 - 550,000 ‡♠
Sold for £337,250
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11
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Overrun
Estimate £1,000,000 - 1,500,000 ‡
Sold for £1,127,650
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12
Raqib Shaw
Absence of God III... And His Tears of Blood Will Drown the Cities of Men II
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡
Sold for £553,250
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13
Anselm Reyle
Harmony
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ♠
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14
Anselm Reyle
Untitled
Estimate £70,000 - 100,000 ♠
Sold for £79,250
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15
Subodh Gupta
No. 1
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000 ‡
Sold for £121,250
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16
Donald Judd
Untitled (89-30)
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡
Sold for £169,250
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17
Ilya Kabakov and Emilia Kabakov
The Painting on an Easel
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ♠
Sold for £361,250
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18
Michelangelo Pistoletto
Ritratto sigg. Lerre (Portrait of Mr. Lerre)
Estimate £70,000 - 90,000 ♠
Sold for £67,250
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19
Martin Kippenberger
Mirror for Hang-Over Bud
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000
Sold for £145,250
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20
Robert Rauschenberg
Address Unknown
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
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21
Martin Kippenberger
Untitled
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
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22
Albert Oehlen
Untitled
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ♠
Sold for £193,250
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23
Karel Appel
Birds Over the Red Sea
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
Sold for £205,250
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24
Victor Vasarely
Cassiopée II NB
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
Sold for £157,250
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25
Arnaldo Pomodoro
Disco con Sfera
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 ♠
Sold for £61,250
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26
Bill Viola
Basin of Tears
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 Ω
Sold for £181,250
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27
Marlene Dumas
Equality
Estimate £80,000 - 120,000 ♠
Sold for £121,250
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28
Dan Colen
Wouldn't it be Nice
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 †
Sold for £85,250
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29
Martin Creed
Work no. 230 (Don’t Worry)
Estimate £30,000 - 40,000 ♠
Sold for £51,650
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

17 Feb 2011 London

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Provenance

Literature

Catalogue Essay

4

Lucio Fontana

Concetto spaziale, Attesa

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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17 Feb 2011
London