Private Collection (acquired in the late 1960s)
Private Collection (by descent from the above)
Sale: Sotheby's, London, 20th Century Italian Art, 15 October 2007, Lot 41
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner 

Germano Celant, Piero Manzoni Catalogo Generale, ಌVol. II, Milan 2004, p. 562, no. 1140, illustrated

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is more cream in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Close inspection reveals a number of polystyrene balls have fallen off, which is inherent with the artist's choice of media. No restoration is apparent under ultraviolet 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."

Executed in 1962-3, Achrome is an outstanding example from Piero Manzoni's groundbreaking eponymous series. Here Manzoni has turned his attention to expanded polystyrene, a highly innovative material: its snow-like quality and undefined composure there is an overwhelming impression of methodical chaos and the crowded picture plane invites the viewer to see it as an unquantifiable expanse. The adherence to repetitive titles throughout the series, as here, encourages complete immersion, moment by moment, in the series of imageless spaces. By refusing to give way to any individual features or allusions, the homogenous titles enforce Manzoni's insistence on the works being measurable only within their particular visual experience. 'Abstractions and references must be totally avoided. In our freedom of invention we must succeed in constructing a world that can be measured only in its own terms.' (Piero Manzoni, 'For the Discovery of a Zone of Images', c.1957, in Exhibition Catalogue, London, Tate Gallery, Piero Manzoni: Paintings, Reliefs and Objects, 1974, p.17).

Manzoni conducted out the Achrome experiments in a range of materials over several years, revealing a searching imagination: from the expanded polystyrene in this piece to glass fibre, fur, papier mache, plaster, cotton chemically treated so that changes in temperature would alter the colour, cotton wool, rabbit fur, straw, bread rolls sealed in plastic and covered with kaolin, and stones. Each material was chosen for the capacity to determine its own outcome, reducing the transformative input of the artist's hand to virtually nil. The Achrome here is not without a layer of irony: expanded polystyrene appeals so directly to the sense of touch and to associations from packaging to environmental pollution that the viewer is under pressure to resist the pull of association and to lose themselves in the actuality of the Achrome. 'Symbolism and description, memories, misty impressions, of childhood, pictoricism🥃, sentimentalism: all this must be absolutely excluded' (Piero Manzoni, ༺Ibid., p.17).