Acquired directly from the artist by the previous owner
Sale: Sotheby's, London, Contemporary Art, Part One, 27 June 2001, Lot 37
Acquired directly at the above by the present owner

Turin, Galleria il Punto, Fontana, 1966
Turin, Galleria Notizie, Fontana, 1966
Zürich, De Pury & Luxembourg, Lucio Fontana, 2002

Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana, Catalogue Raisonné, Vol. II, Brussels 1974, p. 32, no. 53 P 13, illustrated (incorrect illustration)
Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana, Catalogo Generale, Vol. I, Milan 1986, p. 120, no. 53 P 13, illustrated (incorrect illustration)
Enrico Crispolti, Lucio Fontana, Catalogo Ragionato di Sculture, Dipinti, Ambientazioni, Vol. I, Milan 2006, p. 258, no. 53 P 13, illustrated

Colour: The colours are fairly accurate, although the catalogue illustration fails to convey the aquamarine hues to the top left hand quadrant of the composition and around the central stone arrangement. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There is slight canvas draw to the four extreme corners of the composition. There is a minute spot of paint loss to the right extreme overturn edge, approximately 20cm. above the bottom right extreme corner. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Space and matter constantly mystified Lucio Fontana, and the artist spent most of his life trying to capture these 'indefinable' phenomena on canvas. Forming his mature body of work in the Fifties and Sixties, a period of bold spatial and scientific exploration, Fontana's aspiration was to find a poetic articulation of - an aesthetic metaphor for - the conquest of space, making visible the invisible, rendering palpable the impalpable. Concetto Spaziale is the name he gave to this invisible space.

 

The present work is a splendid example of Fontana's artistic quest. Executed in 1953, it is part of the Pietre series, produced between 1952 and 1956 by applying fragments of Murano glass onto the canvas. The protruding fragments of glass, while allowing Fontana to play with subtle and delicate variations of light and colour, also act as a tool to further compound the artist's pictorial investigation into the metaphysics and materiality of space. The Pietre are indeed the products of the same research that led Fontana to puncture his canvasses in 1949 with the Buchi (Holes) series, and would produce from 1958 onwards the Tagli (🎉Cuts). The artist's aim is to make the space enter the painting as a 𝓰palpable reality and extending its traditional boundaries.

 

On a deep, mysterious black background, the artist has🅠 placed lyrically translucent fragments of Murano glass, forming organic shapes that could be understood to evoke either islands or creatures. The solidity of these forms alternates with the negative space of the holes, in a sense pushing the stones forward, so that the technical relationship between perforation and accretion produces the most dynamic and varied surface.