Lucio Fontana [by or attrib] (Italian-Argentinian, 1899 - 1968). "Concetto Spaziale, Attesa - Rosso". Oil (hydro paint) on canvas. c1966. Bears signature, titled, and annotated, verso. Very good to fine condition. Provenance: Private collection, Florence, Italy. The dark "cuts" evident in the image are in the canvas itself, and their appearance is heightened because of the black background affixed to the canvas, verso. Fontana often lined the reverse of his canvases with black gauze or other black/dark objects so that the darkness would "shimmer behind the open cuts and create a mysterious sense of illusion and depth." By repute, Fontana sometimes used his wife's underwear to affix to the verso of the canvas, to achieve the same effect. He used "hydro paint," an industrial-use substance, extensively during this period. This work is signed and titled on the verso, like most of Fontana's paintings. He rarely signed his canvases on the recto, especially the "Concetto Spaziale" and "Attesa" examples, because, he said, signing ruined the effect that the cuts or holes achieved on the canvas; the purity of color was lost and the observer was distracted. Image copyright © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Image size: 15 x 11 in. (400 x 300 mm). [26510] |8000| {R100}