21
Lucio Fontana
Portrait d'Antonin Artaud
- Estimate
- £12,000 - 18,000♠
Lot Details
The complete multiple comprised of a 'book-sculpture' of wood and enamel in pink, containing one copper die-cut plate, one steel die-cut plate, two Plexiglas die-cut plates, and one artist's book by Otto Hahn, with cover illustration by Lucio Fontana,
1968
book-sculpture 36.5 x 23.7 x 7 cm (14 3/8 x 9 3/8 x 2 3/4 in.)
with incised signature and numbered 39/80 on the base of the book-sculpture, with incised initials and numbered '39' on each die-cut plate, and further numbered 39/80 in pencil on the inside front cover of the book (there were also 10 hors commerce impressions in Roman numerals), from the deluxe edition b, published by Le Soleil Noir, Paris.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Catalogue Essay
Fontana created this set of 'illustrations' to accompany a book by Otto Hahn about the iconoclastic French playwright, actor, poet, artist, and director Antonin Artaud (1896–1948). Through his theories about art and theatre and his experiences with drug addiction and institutionalisation, Artaud became a figure of tremendous interest among artists in the 1960s. To illustrate this book, Fontana created a set of punctured sheets of steel, brass, and Plexiglas kept in a sculptural container.
Literature