Marlborough Galleria d'Arte, Rome
Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York
Louis D. Kacalieff Foundation, Cleveland
Sale: Sotheby's, Chicago, 20 March 2001, Lot 805 
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Milan, Galleria dell'Ariete, Piero Dorazio, 1962, illustrated
Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, IV Rassegna Arti Figurative di Roma e del Lazio, 1963, illustrated
Rome, Marlborough Galleria d'Arte, Piero Dorazio, 1964, illustrated
New York, Marlborough-Gerson Gallery,  Piero Dorazio, 1965, illustrated

Edward B. Henning, 'On Piero Dorazio', in: Art International, Lugano 1965, no. 9-10, pp. 15-16, pl. 17, illustrated
Exhibition Catalogue, Cleveland, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Piero Dorazio, 1965, p. 2, p. XiX, illustrated
Marisa Volpi Orlandini, Dorazio, Venice 1977, no. 507, illustrated

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is slightly cooler in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Examination under ultraviolet light reveals a small area of restoration towards the right side of the top edge.
"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."

Executed in 1961, Pas du Cancer is one of the finest examples of Piero Dorazio's signature style of abstraction, created at the peak of the artist's career. A radiant sense of luminosity and compositional homogeneity is struck by the powerful vibration of colours that emerges from the stratified painterly structure of his work. A variegated landscape of superimposed very fine lines of infinite tones of blue creates an intense monochromatic optical effect, establishing a dramatic impression of depth. As observed by Dorazio, "pictorial experience is by its nature tied to the perception of space through the sensation of 'colour' (light) and 'form' (drawing and composition), which induces in the observer the spatial characteristics as well as the formal and chromatic 'physiognomy of the image'" (the artist cited in: Marisa Volpi Orlandini, Dorazio, Venice 1977, p. 275).

Born in Rome in 1927, Dorazio soon rejected the provincialism of academic artistic canons, and together with contemporary artists from the Forma 1 group, such as Accardi, Consagra and Turcato, in 1947 stated in their manifesto the necessity for a resumption of contact with European Modern art. In Spring 1953, invited to the International Seminar at Harvard University, Piero Dorazio spent a year in the United States, where he returned in 1960 when the University of Pennsylvania asked him to reorder their Department of Fine Art, which was highly regarded at the time. Piero Dorazio would return there every year to teach for one semester from 1960 to 1969. During these years in America, Piero Dorazio came acquainted with Franz Kline, Robert Motherwell, Willem De Kooning and Barnet Newman, and participated to the creative vibe of Action Painting and Colour Field Abstraction.

After having experimented with geometrical abstraction, in 1958 Piero Dorazio eliminated every central focal point from his compositions. Through intense chromatic researches and a virtuoso use of brush strokes, Dorazio created homogenous and dynamic surfaces where luminous layers of paint vibrate at different levels. Dorazio obtained the ultimate "mobilization of space through multi-directionality, the sense of a form which by bursting its margins and cutting itself down is increasingly dissolved and leaves a rhythm in its place" (Ibid, p. 277). The 'process' of painting became for Dorazio an integral part of the artwork: with regular brushstrokes and a free-hand Dorazio superimposed countless lines of fine paint.  This tactile sense of light and vital dynamism define Dorazio's most innovative and beautiful works in his career, created in a short period of time from 1958 until 1963 when the artist enlarged and started dissolving the structures of his compositions, towards a return to geometrical and linear abstraction.

By creating a new language in painting and experimenting towards pure forms of abstraction, Piero Dorazio fervividly participated in the international discourse inagurated by Lucio Fontana and evolved by the artists from the Zero group and Nouveau Realisme, and distinguished himself for his "experimental spirit and eyes in love with light" (Ibid, p. 276). Revolutionary and groundbreaking when it was conceived, today Pas du Cancer remains one of the most arrest𒆙ing and captivating paintings that Dorazio created, and is unique as the instantly recognizable legacy of the artist.