LUCIO FONTANA (1899-1968) CONCETTO SPAZIALE 5

Provenance
Collection of F. Grosso, TORINO
Private collection

Exhibited
ROME, Galleria L'Attico, FONTANA, October 1959, n.p. (illustrated)
TORINO, Galleria Notizia, LUCIO FONTANA: OPERA DAL 1931 AL 1959) November 28-December 15, 1959, p. 9 (illustrated)
ZURICH, CARATSCH de PURY & LUXEMBOURG, LUCIO FONTANA, October 10-December 5, 2002, n.p., no. 66

Literature
E. Crispolti, FONTANA, ROME, 1959, n.p. (illustrated) E. Crispolti, LUCIO FONTANA: OPERA DAL 1931 AL 1959, TORINO, p. 9 (illustrated)
Il Taccuino delle Arti, No. 49, ROME, December 1959, p. 7 (illustrated upside down)
M. Tapié, DEVENIR DE FONTANA, TORINO, 1961, n.p. (illustrated)
E. Crispolti, OMMAGIO A FONTANA, ASSISI - ROME, 1971, p. 107, no. 115 E. Crispolti, LUCIO FONTANA: CATALOGUE RAISONNÉ DES PEINTURES, SCULPTURES ET ENVIRONNEMENTS SPATIAUX VOL. II, BRUSSELS, 1974, p. 27, no. 51 B 8 (illustrated)
E. Crispolti and Archivio della Fondazione Lucio Fontana, LUCIO FONTANA: CATALOGO GENERALE VOLUME ONE, MILAN, 1986, p. 101, no. 51 B 8 (illustrated)

FONTANA IS AN ANOMALY OF LATE MODERNISM. HIS WORK IS A MYSTERY THAT DEFIES PREVIOUSLY IDENTIFIED CATEGORIES. HIS PAINTINGS HAVE THE SIGNATURE OF A CHILD'S MARK, THE CULTURAL SIGNIFIER OF A HERETIC OF ART WHO, AT THE SAME TIME, REFUSED TO GIVE UP HIS POLEMICAL STANCE. FONTANA KNEW WHAT HE WANTED AND HE WOULD NOT LET GO OF THE REPETITION OF HIS DESIRE. HIS FOCUS WAS ON THE FUTURE OF AND THROUGH THIS FOCUS, HE RELIEVED HIMSELF OF SELF-IMPORTANCE AND GAINED THE QUINTESSENTIAL HUMILITY THAT ALLOWS GREAT ART TO HAPPEN. HE COULD WITHSTAND THE ASSAULT OF TITILLATING EXCESS.

FONTANA IS AN ARTIST WHO SIGNALS THE COURSE OF THE EARLY TWENTYFIRST CENTURY AS DUCHAMP HERALDED THE COURSE FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE TWENTIETH. BOTH ARTISTS KNEW THE POWER OF THE RELAXED GAZE IN RELATION TO THE ACTION OF THE MOMENT, THE NEARLY NONACTION, OF BEING ON TIME AT THE RIGHT TIME, AND ENJOYING THE ABSORPTION OF BEING THERE.
Robert C. Morgan, "Lucio Fontana," REVIEW,
March 15, 2000, pp. 18-19