This is a superb original signed and numbered limited
edition color lithograph by internationally acclaimed artist LUCIO FONTANA (Italian, 1899-1968),
dating from 1964.
This rare original color lithograph is entitled "Concetto
Spaziale", from Six Contes de La Fontaine illustres par Lucio Fontana (Rigo-Ruhe L-27), and is hand signed in pencil by the artist on the front
lower right "L. Fontana". It is also numbered in pencil on the lower left "102/150",
from the total limited edition of only 150 impressions printed on wove paper.
It measures 13 ½" x 19" (sheet) and is unframed. It was published by Edizioni del Cinquale, Milan, and printed by Le Arte Grafiche Pardini di Camaiore. It is in very good condition aside from slight skinning along
the left sheet edge verso from former hinging. Authenticity is GUARANTEED. Packing,
shipping and insurance is $65.00 within the US only, please email for
international shipping rates. Please view my
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Lucio Fontana was born on February 19, 1899, in Rosario de
Santa Fé, Argentina. His father was Italian and his mother Argentinean. He
lived in Milan from 1905 to 1922 and then moved back to Argentina, where he
worked as a sculptor in his father's studio for several years before opening
his own. In 1926, he participated in the first exhibition of Nexus (formed in
1907), a group of young Argentinean artists in Rosario de Santa Fé. On his
return to Milan in 1928, Fontana enrolled at the Accademia di belle arti di
Brera, which he attended for two years. The Galleria del Milione, Milan,
organized Fontana's first solo exhibition in 1930. In 1934, he joined the group
of abstract Italian sculptors associated with the gallery. The artist traveled
to Paris in 1935 and joined the group Abstraction-Création (Abstraction
Creation, 1931§36). The same year, he developed his skills in ceramics in
Albisola, Italy, and later at the Sèvres factory, near Paris. In 1939, he
joined the Milanese anti-Fascist artists' group Corrente (Current, 1938§43). He
also intensified his lifelong collaboration with architects during this period.
In 1940, Fontana moved to Buenos Aires. With some of his students, he founded
in 1946 the Academia de Altamira, from which emerged the "Manifesto blanco"
(White manifesto, 1946). He moved back to Milan in 1947 and in collaboration
with a group of writers and philosophers signed the "Primo manifesto dello
spazialismo" (First manifesto of spatialism). He subsequently resumed his
ceramic work in Albisola to explore these new ideas with his Concetti
spaziali (Spatial concepts, 1949§60). The artist visited New York in 1961
during a show of his work at the Martha Jackson Gallery. In 1966, he designed
opera sets and costumes for La Scala, Milan. In the last year of his career,
Fontana became increasingly interested in the staging of his work in the many
exhibitions that honored him worldwide, as well as in the idea of purity
achieved in his last white canvases. These concerns were prominent at the 1966
Venice Biennale, for which he designed the environment for his work, and at the
1968 Documenta, Kassel, West Germany. Fontana died on September7, 1968, in
Comabbio, Italy.
