Provenance
Galerie Serge De Bloe, Brussels, from whom acquired by previous owner
Literature
E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: catalogue raisonné, vol. II, Brussels, 1974, no. 62 O 38, p. 118–19 (illustrated); E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana catalogo generale, vol. I, Milan, 1986, no. 62 O 38, p. 398 (illustrated); E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana catalogo ragionato di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, vol. II, Milan, 2006, no. 62 O 38, p. 583 (illustrated)
Catalogue Essay
“A butterfly in space excites my imagination: having freed myself from rhetoric, I lose myself in time and begin my holes”
Lucio Fontana

Lucio Fontana created an entirely new pictorial language, and in doing so, placed himself at the forefront of the post-war European avant-garde movement. Having already contributed to several manifestos between 1947 and 1952, Fontana was the founder of Spazialismo, or Spatialism, which explored the concept of space and its representation without recourse to the traditional means of perspective and illusion. In Fontana’s work, this theory culminated in his renowned body of works known as Concetti spaziali, to which this work belongs. These works, which Fontana began in 1948, mark and embody the extent to which Fontana was able to transcend the boundaries that define sculptures and paintings in his search for his new pictorial language. This search, conducted in the post-war years, has often been linked to Fontana’s declaration that painting after Nagasaki and Hiroshima was not possible anymore, echoing Theodor Adorno’s declaration that it was barbaric to write a poem after Auschwitz. Although Fontana was politically aware and certainly influenced by the world around him, such as the aftermath of the Second World War or the voyage of man into space, his work is not specifically about politics. Rather, while his work can be seen as a form of social, visual and historical revolution, it was, above all, a rebellion against a dominating artistic tradition and heritage in the struggle for a new understanding of space. This went beyond a simple synthesis of sculpture and painting – Fontana freed himself completely from the limitations of two-dimensional space and broke into a new dimension.

At the core of the Spatialist movement’s investigation of a new space lies in the grasp of infinity. This exploration of the space ‘behind’ the surface was very much a contemporary concern in the 1960s, especially since Yuri Gagarin’s space flight, an event which made people re-evaluate their understanding of the world and its place in the universe, and shift their focus towards time, matter and space. It made a great impression upon Fontana too. The exploration of space, however, was not just a scientific advancement for Fontana – he also saw it in more mythical terms. He believed that knowledge of the vastness of the cosmos would make human beings more aware of their insignificance, through which man would be able to become like God, completely stripped of their materialistic dependency. This emancipation and spiritual awakening would ultimately lead to the end of the world. This Spatialist concept went further and prophesied a redefinition of religion by the advance of science.

In his important series of Concetto spaziale, called La Fine di Dio, Fontana uses the egg shape, which has long been the symbol of birth, life, death and resurrection but also of unity and harmony, as well as an emblem for the exploration and consolidation of the cosmos.

This concept of space and freedom from materiality is key to Fontana’s oeuvre. “The discovery of the Cosmos is a new dimension, it is the Infinite: so I make a hole in the canvas, which is the basis for all previous art, to search for an infinite dimension, an X which for me is the basis of all Contemporary Art” (the artist in an interview with Carla Lonzi in Carla Lonzi, Autoritratto, Bari, 1969, p. 169). In his investigation of this new space, and driven by an inexhaustible curiosity, Fontana, while not abandoning painting or sculpture completely, breaks through the artwork’s surface by cutting, slashing, perforating and penetrating it. He thereby replaces the illusion of spatial depth on the canvas plane with real space and dispenses with the restricting historical view of paintings, both symbolically and materially. The traditional artwork’s surface was stripped of its meaning and infused with a sense of time through immortalizing his actions by the holes and slashes.

In this example of the Concetto spaziale, Fontana’s vision is transformed into a beautifully worked surface, with delicate colouring and a subtle tactility and materiality. Fontana perforates his surface with the back of a brush or a pen. This is not meant to be seen as a destructive process but rather a controlled act of creation, one that witnesses the momentary. Fontana transcends the formal qualities of painting and enters into the realm of the immaterial. The surface and the void become components of this pictorial language as well as the oils which are themselves being transformed into a sculptural substance.

11

Lucio Fontana

Concetto spaziale

1962
Oil on canvas.
60 × 50 cm (23 5/8 × 19 5/8 in).
Signed ‘l. fontana’ lower right; further signed and titled ‘l. fontana / Concetto spaziale’ on the reverse.

Estimate
£250,000 - 350,000 ‡

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

12 October 2011
London

1
Walead Beshty
20-inch Copper (FedEx® Large Kraft Box© 2005 FEDEX 330508) International Priority, Los Angeles–London trk#8685 8772 8040, date October 2–6, 2009. International Priority London–New York trk#863822956489, date November 18–20, 2009, International Priority New York–London trk#7952 0098 1790, date September 19–21, 2011
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000 ‡♠
Sold for £46,850
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2
Jacob Kassay
Untitled
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000
Sold for £163,250
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3
Maurizio Cattelan
Tié
Estimate £50,000 - 70,000 ♠
Sold for £91,250
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4
Tauba Auerbach
CMY 5
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000 ‡
Sold for £49,250
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5
Aaron Young
Untitled
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000
Sold for £87,650
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6
Steven Parrino
Creeping Eye
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000
Sold for £361,250
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7
This lot is no longer available.
8
Cecily Brown
The Torment of St. Anthony
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡♠
Sold for £265,250
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9
Damien Hirst
Observation – The Crown of Justice
Estimate £700,000 - 1,000,000 ‡♠
Sold for £780,450
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10
Jeff Koons
Seal Walrus Trashcans
Estimate £2,000,000 - 3,000,000 ‡
Sold for £2,113,250
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11
Lucio Fontana
Concetto spaziale
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ‡
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12
Damien Hirst
5-Aminouracil
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000 ‡♠
Sold for £690,850
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13
Maurizio Cattelan
Turisti
Estimate £250,000 - 350,000 ♠
Sold for £385,250
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14
George Condo
Cave Painting
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ‡
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15
Cecily Brown
Park
Estimate £400,000 - 600,000 ‡♠
Sold for £421,250
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16
Richard Prince
My Life as a Weapon
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ‡
Sold for £541,250
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17
Anselm Kiefer
Die Argonauten
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ♠
Sold for £601,250
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18
Anselm Kiefer
Sternenfall
Estimate £90,000 - 120,000 ‡♠
Sold for £109,250
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19
Paula Rego
The Servant
Estimate £500,000 - 700,000 ♠
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20
George Condo
Two works: (i) The Departure, 2004; (ii) The Arrival, 2004
Estimate £300,000 - 400,000 ‡
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21
Thomas Schütte
United Enemy
Estimate £300,000 - 500,000 ♠
Sold for £481,250
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22
Andreas Gursky
Copan
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000 ‡♠
Sold for £217,250
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23
Hiroshi Sugimoto
Ligurian Sea, Frumura
Estimate £200,000 - 300,000 ‡
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24
Ed Ruscha
Judy
Estimate £180,000 - 220,000 ‡
Sold for £193,250
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25
Cindy Sherman
Untitled #122
Estimate £150,000 - 200,000
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26
Sol LeWitt
5 Cubes Half-Off
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000
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27
Richard Serra
Tracks #2
Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 ‡
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28
Robert Motherwell
Frontier No. 12
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29
Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol
Thin Lips
Estimate £700,000 - 1,000,000 ‡
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30
Gilbert & George
Heart
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31
Johannes Kahrs
Eifer-Sucht (Jealousy)
Estimate £120,000 - 180,000 ‡♠
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32
Barnaby Furnas
Flood (Red Sea)
Estimate £150,000 - 250,000 †
Sold for £169,250
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33
Marc Quinn
Red Lantern Cove
Estimate £85,000 - 120,000 ‡♠
Sold for £91,250
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34
Tom Friedman
Untitled (T.V. Sprinkles)
Estimate £60,000 - 80,000 Ω
Sold for £73,250
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35
Nicolas Pol
Specialist of Peace
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36
Tim Noble and Sue Webster
Toxic Schizophrenia
Estimate £180,000 - 250,000 Ω♠
Sold for £229,250
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Contemporary Art Evening Sale

12 October 2011 London

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Provenance

Literature

Catalogue Essay

11

Lucio Fontana

Concetto spaziale

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

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12 October 2011
London