RetroRetrospective (Lucio Fontana, 1899-1968) Spective (Lucio Fontana, 1899-1968) (1977)

FONTANA
LUCIO FONTANA
1899-1968: A
RETROSPECTIVE
The Solomon
R.
Guggenheim Museum, New York
it)
Published by The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation,
New
ISBN: 0-89207-010-2
Library of Congress Card Catalogue
The Solomon
R.
Number: 77-88448
Guggenheim Foundation,
Printed in the United States
Cover photograph by Ugo Mulas
New
York, 1977
York, 1977
THE SOLOMON
PRESIDENT
TRUSTEES
STAFF
GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION
Lawson-Johnston
Peter O.
H. H. Arnason, The Right Honorable Earl Castle Stewart, Joseph W. Dormer, Mason
Welch Gross, Eugene W. Leake, Frank R. Milliken, A. Chauncey Newlin, Mrs. Henry
Obre, Albert E. Thiele, Michael F. Wettach
THE SOLOMON
DIRECTOR
R.
R.
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
Thomas M. Messer
Henry Berg, Deputy Director
Susan Halpcr, Executive Assistant; Vanessa
Jalet, Secretary to the
Director
Louise Averill Svendsen, Curator; Diane Waldman, Curator of Exhibitions; Margit

Rowcll, Curator of Special Exhibitions; Angelica Zander Rudcnstmc. Research ( urator;
Linda Konheim, Curatorial Administrator; Linda Shearer. Assistant Curator; Carol

Fuerstein, Editor; Mary Joan Hall,
ibrarian; Ward Jackson, Archivist; Susan Ferleger,
Philip Verre, Clair Zamoiski, Curatorial Assistants
1
Mmii
Poser, Public Affairs Officer;
Miriam
niden.
Membership Department
le.nl;
Susan Hirschfcld, Public Affairs Coordinator
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Officer;
arolyn PorceJli, Development Associate
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Manager; li/abeth McKirdie, R.nle\ M.kcv, Business Assistants; ( harlcs Hovland,
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Hammer,
Sales Coordinator; Darrie
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echnical officer; Orrin H. Rile\.
onservator;
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onsen ator; Dana

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unghini,
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Preparator; Scon V Wixon, Operations ( oordinator; David Mortensen,( arpenter;
Associate
Robert
E.
Mates, Photographer.
Photograph)
Peter G.
Man
Donlon, Assistant Photographer.
ola
oordinator
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Superintendent;
Bu tiding Superintendent; Gu)

(
harlcs
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leu her.
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Digitized by the Internet Archive

in
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York Library Council
METRO
http://archive.org/details/luciofoOOsolo
LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION
Mario Bardini, Varigotti
Civica Galleria d'Artc Moderna, Milan
Raimondo
Civica Galleria d'Artc Moderna,
Bariatti,
Milan
ollcction Boschi,
Milan
Mr. and Mrs.
Berlingieri,
Carlo
F. Bilotti,
Serge
De
Rome
New York
Galleria Civica d'Artc
The Solomon
R.
Moderna, Iurm
Guggenheim Museum, New York
Bloe, Brussels
Kunsthaus Zurich
Teresita Fontana, Milan
Kunstmuseum Bern
Collection Fornaciari-Roma
Kunstmuseum
Diisseldorf.
Collection Gaslini, Milan
Louisiana
Mario Gori, Milan
Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark
Musee National
d'Art Moderne. Pans
The Museum
Modern
Joseph H. Hirshhorn
of
Art,
New York
Collection Laurini
Stedelijk
Museum, Amsterdam
Enrico Lucci, Biella
Jan and Ingeborg van der Marck,

West Lebanon, New Hampshire
Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum,

The Netherlands
indhoven,
Washington Universit) Gallerj

Milena Milani, Savona
St.
ol
\n,
Louis
Zaira Mis, Brussels

Carla Panicali,
Rome
\ci|u.n ella
ialleries, Inc.,
New York
Collection Pollini, Milan

Galleria deH'Anete, Milan
Francesco RidolH
Galleria del
Na\
iglio,
Milan
H.uinclore B. Schulhof
Galleria
Nuovo
Sagittatio,
Milan
Studio B.B.P.R., Milan

Galleria Seno, Milan
Luigi Veronesi, Milan
Marlborough Galleria
Ambassador and Mrs.

New York
d'Artc,
Piero Vinci,
Studio Santandrea, Milan
Rome
u -GP
PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Lucio Fontana did not come to the attention of a broader American

before the late i95o's
when
art public
daring canvas cuts marked him as a powerful
his
innovator and a key figure on the European postwar scene. As often happens
when
and
To
a radical contribution
its
is
confronted and absorbed, curiosity about
its
place within the wider premise of innovative thought follows in
satisfy this interest
this first
museum
Models
and
development
to isolate Fontana's
and proto-conceptual
sculptor, painter
retrospective in
New
artist,
as
was staged by Erika
was therefore
is
wake.
draughtsman,
York.
been honored by numerous retrospectives there since his death

recent of these
origins
Guggenheim has undertaken
the
for such an exhibition existed in Europe, since Fontana's
Zurich, where she
its
Billeter a year
and
a half
Associate Director and Curator of
in
ago
1968.
at the
Modern
work had
The most
Kunsthaus
Art. Dr. Billeter
and we owe our
invited to be curator of the current presentation,
thanks to her for the selection of works as well as the conception of the exhibition's
accompanying catalogue.
work, and
both
the extensive help
Lucio Fontana
artist's
In these tasks she
in
was aided by others
close to Fontana's
accomplishment could only have been achieved with
their successful
documentary and
logistical
provided
by the Archivio
Milan. The Archivio's President, Signora Teresita Fontana. the
widow, and Valeria
Ernesti,
conception and realization of
this
its
Secretary, were personally involved in the
Fontana retrospective
.\nd
gave us their gener-
ous, valuable and unstinting support. Signora Fontana also figured as principal
lender to this exhibition.
Many
other European and American collectors, private
as well as institutional, also parted with their precious possessions
ther the understanding of Fontana's art. Their

line
names
order to fur-
are listed separately to under
our debt to each of them.
Collectors of Fontana's
work
are understandably concentrated
Milan has become a veritable headquarters
man)
for the artist's
in
Italy,
and
tneiuU and
admirers. But the exhibition selection also reflects wide-ranging concern with
Fontana's work
participation of
in
other European countries and
American
collectors, the
in
the United States.
Guggenheim through
'm\.\
[*0
assure
Konheim,
its
Curatorial Administrator, brought important works in this country to Dr. Billeter's

attention.
this
Miss Konheim also coordinated the complex arrangements involved
undertaking and assisted with the exhibition's installation and the gathering
of catalogue documentation.
The publication
itself
overseen by Carol Fuerstein, the Museum's Editor.
must remain unnamed,
The Fontana
in this country.
work may
on both
was
To
edited and
all
these
its
production
and others who
extend the Guggenheim's deep appreciation.
we trust, summarize the trenchpostwar figure who has not so far received his
retrospective assembled here will,
ant contribution of an outstanding
due
in
As Dr.
Billeter's
also stimulate reflection
catalogue introduction indicates, Fontana's
upon
sides of the Atlantic.
thomas M. messer, Director

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
creative expression analogous to his
own
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LUCIO FONTANA
Between Tradition and Avant-Garde
Erika Billeter
Lucio Fontana
in
1948 challenges the history of painting. With one bold stroke he
pierces the canvas
and
tears
it
to shreds.
the entire world that the canvas
is
Through
no longer
easel painting, a constant in art heretofore,
gesture
is
is
he declares before
this action
a pictorial vehicle
new
beginning, for destruction carries innovation
grows with Fontana out of the
pictorial beauty
painting becomes a
new
possibilities for a
The Buchi
work
(Holes)
of art in
its
own
in
Western paint-
in its
act of destruction.
A new
wake.
The punctured
and the pierced canvas affords
right,
formulation of easel painting.
those
first
examples of Fontana's new
reveal themselves to us seven years after Fontana's death

after their inception.
asserts that
called into question. Implied in this
both the termination of a five-hundred year evolution
ing and a
and
They
offer
pictorial conception
and nearly
thirty years
one among many gestural options. These canvases
originated parallel to Pollock's early insight through which he perceived the canvas
as a space within
which
to activate his gestural notations. Pollock dances into his
paintings, brush in hand, but Fontana, too, performs a rhythmic dance as he perforates the canvas with a knife to create structures that lead the viewer to re-
experience his motions.
communicative power.
in his
to
The
A few
painter's gestures thus
those
vehement canvas
mind when we think of Fontana. The
work he
cut the canvas to pieces.
who
meditation.
The
executes his brushstroke

cut
is
artist recalls
The new
of the act of destruction. Subsequently he
ink painter
the
medium
is
how
would prepare
in a single
easy, but so
that instantly
in his
when
first
performed. Today
\vc see
it
in a
Chinese
his cuts like a
and cannot be corrected.

of this stuff
is
discarded"
painting does.
the cutting
doubt."
Time
motion
mind's eye. The perforation And the cutting of the canvas amounted to
tionary act
was born
motion following profound
much
The cuts perpetuate the moment as East Asiatic ink

we regard these works and as we seem to retain
come
rage over
pictorial concept thus
as unrepeatable as the brushstroke
"People think that to cut or pierce
slits
he explained to a friend, adding that "the idea must become clear beyond
as
of his
years thereafter the artist further sharpens his gesture
so called "Cuts" (Tagli)
spoiled
become
freezes
in
our
revolu-
context of gestural painting
"
3
O
13
'4
IS
which we have assigned

were never
as
he himself spoke of
for the
an
from
to wrest
it
it. It
was an
art that
Fontana himself these actions
art "contemplatively arrived at,"
pursued a goal. When,
began to
third dimension, he
its
it
Fontana
in 1948,
time ceased to view the canvas as a painted surface,
first
through
a place in art history. For
aesthetically subversive but rather
when he broke
paintings
call his
Concetti Spaziali or Spatial Conceptions. This term indicated what Fontana meant
to express through his novel pictorial
through
realize
his knifed
dimension for
for the third
form and what, ultimately, he attempted
works. All his paintings since 1948 relate to

a concrete rendering of space
to
his search
through appropriate
imagery. After the Manifiesto Blanco, published in Buenos Aires in 1946,
all
his
manifestos accord a primary role to space as expression of an art with contem-
porary implications. Fontana wanted to exceed the
illusionistic
space that had
dominated painting since the Renaissance, that moved overwhelmingly into the
foreground during the Baroque period and that preoccupied the Futurists as a
dynamic process.
No
longer content to project space as illusion or trompe
to introduce
into the picture as a fact.
it
paints space but creates
The
it.
becomes space. Beyond
itself
As he breaks
l'oeil,
Fontana meant
painting in turn, instead of representing space,
this,
the perforation and laceration of the picture
surface and the resulting creation of a real space inseparable from
Fontana,
signified for
ness,
among other
He
as
it
may,
in
come
imagery,
to share
aware-
cosmic space developments was
did not live to see man's landing on the
have convinced him that mankind could adapt

course he would have
its
things, an art reflecting current scientific
an homage to science. Fontana's interest
passionate.
no longer
into the canvas he
moon, which might
in future to
well
cosmic space unless of
our present doubts on the subject. Be
this
remains the objective of his Concetti Spaziali to transfer into art a
it
fraction of this cosmic space as palpable reality.
From
born
the outset of this striving, space
1899
in
in
was
mother Argentinian. Lucio himself began

Bucbi
in
at times.
ture that
1949 had never painted
One
still
of his
a picture,
theme for Fontana. He was
his career as a sculptor
although he had
made
who
well as the compactness of
its
by declaring and preempting
made
it
of gesso
its
before his
pencil drawings
most important early works the Uorno Nero, 1930,
echoes Cubism. Through
figurative pieces
a central
Argentina. His sculptor father, Luigi Fontana, was Italian, his
is
a sculp-
hermetic fundamental conception as
form, the work interacts ambiguously with space

at the
same
time. In the years that follow painted
and clay bear
identical stylistic marks. In all of
them, fleeting surface modelling dissolves Fontana's tectonic forms as their planes
seem
to recede into space.
The
Two
traces of an artisanal handling appear to be carved into the soft material.
elements which
we
shall
encounter again
in the artist's
mature work are
already discernible in these early examples: gesture and space integration.
16
Alongside these figurative sculptures Fontana creates abstract works. This gave
oeuvre of the young
rise to interesting constellations in the
wished to keep
his options
other direction. But the tensions inherent
work
late
who
obviously
in
the dialogue so characteristic of his
are already evident in his abstract enclosures, the rod-like structures
the graffiti tablets of this early phase.

as well.
artist
open, preferring not to commit himself to one or the
Both
in his figurative
and
imity to the Baroque. Fontana

of his deeply rooted
dimension
in
surface
is
agitated in his abstract pieces
in his abstract sculptures
one
is
aware of
a prox-
capable of reinterpreting such elements because
is
empathy with
Fontana's creation
The
and
this particular cultural tradition.
reflects a
preoccupy him passionately throughout
The Baroque
concern with space which
his
life.
Drawings
come
will
related to these abstract
three-dimensional works are conceived in outline form: they are economical

their expression
and rendered
sculptures themselves seem to anticipate
other
work
of these early years that also
predicts a later period, the terra-cottas for Mazzotti's garden in Albisola
embedded
like stones
to
emerge
in
In 1939,
From
in nature.
in
quick strokes. In a sense, they foreshadow the
in
much as the
And among
Concetti of the 1950's,
Fontana's late paintings.
to
Mare
are
these there leads a direct path to his Nature,
1959-60.
Fontana returned to Argentina
after a lengthy stay in Italy.
He
first
turned to sculpture but subsequently began automatic Surrealist-inspired drawing.

It
is
at this stage that, for the first time, gesture unfolds as a decisive creative
Fontana for what he was to undertake
device, thus preparing
the image as living gesture. 1946
is
upon Fontana's urging. The
document were based upon Fontana's elaboration of
his ideas
developed by Boccioni
about dynamism
gestural art
and
identify
it
is
it
still
sculpture and to drawing.
Only
the concept of
felt
usually called. At the time Fontana inspired
did not paint, but devoted himself exclusively to

in retrospect
do we partake
his
of that agitation
and
work. His ceramic sculpture

still
manifest fully his ideas about space and
decorated with
dynamism Fontana
compelled to move into abstraction.
The Concetti Spaziali

from any attachment
with his Buchi for the
in
realized
European abstract expression-
already displays forcibly torn surfaces which, however, are
To
dynamism
first
interpret this text as an expression of
new beginning which now informs
figurative elements.
which was
ideas in this
behalf of Futurism. Fontana
as a verbal translation of
ism or informel painting, as
later:
which thus may be taken as an optical
Today we
the Manifiesto Blanco he
sense the
in
in his Buchi,
translation of the manifesto.
few years
the year of the Manifiesto Blanco,
written by Argentinian artist friends
in art, originally
it,
in
1949 lead the
artist to the realization of
to the object. At the very

first
Fontana also creates
by means of ultraviolet
moment
pure idea, freed
he penetrates the canvas
time and as he integrates the space behind the painting

his first
light, first
environment. This Anihicntc SpOZtale, projected
came
into being at the (ialleria del
Navigho
in
Milan.
It
amounted
to nothing less than his first integration of a
had been seeking
space, a realization he
work
of art with
for decades. In the years that follow,
Fontana continues to shape environments, introducing an
art
form that others
only adopted and eventually exhausted in the 1960's.
A decisive
Spaziali.
change
Fontana's development had taken place with the Concetti
in
Through them,
the artist ceases to be a sculptor and becomes a painter.
His dialogue with a plane, until

ness
is
immediately ruptured
viously achieved
now
avoided, can no longer be delayed, but plane-
What he premeans is now ex-
in a search for three-dimensionality.
on the surfaces of
his sculptures
by gestural
pressed by the act of piercing the plane. Color no longer interests Fontana in these
new experiments although

concerns him deeply
earlier
he had always colored his sculpture.
What now
gesture transformed into graphic structure. Initially he
is
works upon white, that
is,
The ground
colorless planes.
is
neutralized so that
it
remains no more than support for the gestural sign which thereby becomes charged
in relation to the
radical this action
plane as a whole.
was
at the time.
It is
The
the canvas suffered, but implicit in the
how
impossible today to comprehend
perforation and laceration suggests that
same
act
is
redeeming gesture toward an
inherited, traditional pictorial form.
During the entire subsequent period, Fontana remains

Spaziali. In a very real sense the Concetti constitute his
tied to the Concetti
mature phase which he
reached through a consistent development, on the one hand, and by a radical
break with tradition, on the other. Fontana always pursued his
artistic
themes
over a period of years, putting them aside for a while only to take them up again.
The Buchi made
us think of cosmic
They were succeeded by

tion
was opposed by
movements
in their often circular
dynamics.
paintings called Pietre (Stones) in which negative perfora-
positive accretion achieved by the setting of glass stones
upon
the pictorial surface. Figurative sculpture also returns once again in the 1950's,
when Fontana
the
participates in a competition for the execution of the portals for
Milan Cathedral. Here we encounter once more the sculptor of the 1930's and
40's.
Baroque elements continue
the fragmentation of tectonic corporeailty.
time
later,
movement,
to prevail in
It is
from 1954-57, Fontana creates a
spatial relationships
hardly by chance that only a short
series of
works
clearly conceived in
terms of their material and entitled Barocchi. Of these, four have

to literature although they remain entirely abstract.
Fontana himself, are Crocifissione,

underline associations
somewhat
11
style at a particular time.
they virtually
like those of the
become
18
New York
titles
titles,
//
is
that relate
bestowed by
Paradiso.
series
Fontana never paints
While he lavishes color so
materializations, he
tenderly in chalk and india ink.
The
Golgotha, L'Inferno and
related to the paintings inspired by Venice.
and
freely in his
They
and the ones
in a particular
Barocchi that
simultaneously capable of working
1958
is
the year of the
first
cuts, his Tagli.
now
Fontana
slashes with a knife
instead of puncturing holes in the canvas. Concetti SpazialiAttese, Fontana's
name
for these works,
may be
translated as "expectations" or "hope." These
monochromatic canvases with one or more
become
incisions have
his
trademark.
Black gauze on the reverse of the canvas shimmers through the open cuts, acting
as
background while
at the
same time
it
evokes a darkly imaginary space. The
title
Attese refers to the mysterious world of darkness structured behind the incisions.
For years, the cutting of the canvas was for Fontana an act of creative self-aware-
He
ness.
was, nevertheless, preoccupied with other solutions even then.
fore impossible to think in terms of periods as
There
that
are, to
may
one considers Fontana's development.
be sure, brief thematic phasesexperimental, transitional states
hold his interest for a year or more. His Quanta of 1959 are
development irregularly shaped canvases, with one or two

combined with one another. The
in
1963-64.
there-
It is
It is
series called Fine di
slits,
that
Dio (God
is
just
such a
may be
freely
Dead) emerges
a sequence of egg-shaped pictures of identical format painted in
sweetish monochromes. Surfaces are torn open by myriad holes suggesting galaxies
of stars or perhaps moonscapes, a world in any case in
The
Teatrini (Small Theaters), perforated
which God does not
monochromatic canvas backdrops with
superimposed lacquered wooden cutouts which appear

Dio, are closer to colored objects than to paintings.
stages
upon which
shall refrain
from an attempt
could not be explained.
He saw
in
many
it
as a manifestation of
manifestos about ideas relating to
1966.
When
magic existence.
human
new
art forms.
The
were meant for the future and transformed into creative
upon
Teatrini look like small
their
We
art
intelligence.
to explain art, he nevertheless expressed himself
planations wherever visual means were inadequate.
generations. "All depends
1964, like the Fine di
Fontana himself always held that
to define them.
While Fontana did not wish
in
The
and bushes lead
silhouettes of trees
exist.
ideas,
upon the cut and
he proposed to show a single painting
in
He
sought verbal ex-
theories he postulated
acts only
by subsequent
the gesture" he said in
one room,
it
was Fontana's
objective to completely realize an idea through his gesture.
As early
is
as 1948 he
saved by gesture."
sub species
whether
concepts,
wrote "art
work
They already
eternal but not immortal."
He was aware
eternitatis a
first
is
millenium
that art
is
of art lived only for a
was
And
"art dies but
the hostage of matter and that
but a moment. As a result he cared
moment
or lasted
expressed by the Dadaists, were

anticipated the art form of the
new
two thousand
years.
little
Such
again and radical by 1948.
Happening which did not appear
for
another decade.
By 1947 Fontana spoke of Concetti or concepts, long before

art of ideas or conceptual art gained currency.
the notion of an
At a very early date Fontana
also took into consideration the creative opportunities presented by television. In
'"
195 2
when he read
his
stated that "television
is
Manifesto del movimento spaziale per
one of the long awaited means that
la televisione,
he
will enable us to inte-
grate our conceptions." In 1948 he ventured that "Art no longer develops through
A new
the use of stones and colors.
art
must make use of
light
and television-
techniques that can be transformed into art only by creative artists."
The new
medium was then only
common-
in its
infancy and the term "video," which today
place in artist's circles, had not even been coined. Fontana, because he
possessed of a far-ranging imagination,

artists as a
vance
his
classic
is
seminal initiator of
work
still
retains.
new
was acclaimed by
is
was himself
a generation of
young
creative concepts. This also explains the rele-
That he
is,
at the
same
time, considered a
modern
not inconsistent with such relevance, since in our era of short-lived
generations, artistic ideas succeed one another rapidly.
Fontana's oeuvre shines out in other respects as well.
by the serenity of a painterly vision

is
one of the
of his
first
first artists
since
It is still
wholly informed
in spite of all its revolutionary notions.
Fontana
Malevich to pay homage to monochrome painting. All
perforated paintings around 1949 are white, and
it still
seems appropriate
how much an artist like Yves Klein owes to this new awareness of
monochrome which Fontana reintroduced into painting. In the 1950's it was hardly
possible to imagine a more rigorous asceticism than the reduction of pictorial
means expressed by Fontana when he made an incision on a monochromatic plane.
Implicit in this acesticism is a new grasp of painterly subtleties. As we know from
his photographic portraits, Fontana was a man of rare noblesse, a noblesse which
to note in passing
also characterized his paintings. This quality, all too rare in
by the detached objectivity of
a sovereign spirit.
our time,
is
supported
WORKS
IN
THE EXHIBITION
Numbers and
letters following title refer to those given in

Enrico Crispolti and [an win der Marck, / ucio Fontana,
i vols., Brussels, La Conaissance, 1974.
i!
SCULPTURE (SCULTURE)
Nude (Nudo)
SC 1. 1.926
26
Plaster,
6% x 8 4
X
x 5V2"
(17.5
x 21 x 14 cm.)
Collection Teresita Fontana, Milan
Figure at the
?r
SC
4.
Window (Figura alia
Finestra)
193
Polychrome terra-cotta, 15% x 7V2 x

(39 x 19 x 20 cm.)
7%"
Collection Pollini, Milan
Black Figures (Figure Nere)
31SC7. 1931
Polychrome terra-cotta, 16% x 11% x 5"
(41 x 30 x 12.5 cm.)
Bull (Toro)
31
SC
8.
Terra-cotta,
The
Pilots'
Lovers (Le Amanti dei
Pilot:)
31SC9. 1931
193
5% X7%
3%"
(15
x 20x9.5 cm -)
Polychrome terra-cotta, io 1/^ x 15% x 5V2"

(26 x 40 x 14 cm.)
Lent by Galleria del Naviglio, Milan
Head of a Girl
SC 12. 193
(Testa di Ragazza)
}i
Polychrome terra-cotta,
(38 x 32 x 20 cm.)
15 x 11V2
7%"
HF^
-
,A
Tablet with Graffiti (Tavoletta Grafita)
31SC15. 1931
Polychrome
plaster, 9
x 11%" (23 x 29 cm.)
26

31 SC 16. 193
Polychrome cement, 9 x 11%"

Private Collection
(23
x 29 cm.)

31 SC 18. 1931
Polychrome cement, 9 x nVz"
(-} x -8 cm.)
Private Collection, Vicenza, Italy
10
10

SC 3. 1932
31
Polychrome cement, 9V2 * 11" (24 x 28 cm.)

Collection Carla Panicali,
Rome
The Guests (he

33
SC 3-
Ospiti)
1933
Polychrome
plaster,
23%
x 33 x 15%" (60 x 84 x 40 cm.)
Lent by Studio B.B.P.R., Milan
11
18
Seated
34
SC
Woman (Signorina Sednta)

i.
1934
Polychrome bronze, 32V2 x 33V2 x

(82 x 85 x 70 cm.)
2.7V2"
Collection Civica Galleria d'Arte, Milan
11
13
Abstract Sculpture (Scultura Astratta)
14
34SC6. 1934
34 SC8. 1934
Polychrome cement, 15% x 11" (40 x 28 cm.)
Polychrome cement, 11% x 12%"
Lent by Galleria dell'Ariete, Milan
14
13
30
(29 x 31.5 cm.
Conversation (Conversazione)
14
SC
11.
1934
Gilded bronze,
i6%"
h. (68
cm.)
Private Collection, Milan
*5
|1
16
34
SC 13.1934
Painted bronze, 2514 x
17%"
(64 x 45 cm.)
Collection Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Turin
17
34
SC
17.
1934
Polychrome cement and
iron, 23 1/!
Collection Carta Panicali,
x 19%" (59 x 50 cm.)
Rome
17
16
31
Relief (Rilievo)
34
SC 22.
1914
Polychrome cement, io\m
ii"lr\
:S un.
Collection Luigi Veronesi, Milan
19
Abstract Sculpture (Sadturj Astr.itta)
I4SC26. 1934
Polychrome cement,
11 x 7'/k" (18 x 18 cm.)
19
20
34
SC 29. 1934
13%" h. (35
Iron,
cm.)
21
Spatial Conception (Concetto Spaziale)
57
SC 3. 1957
Iron, 51V4" h. (130 cm.)
Private Collection, Turin
20
34
58SC1. 1958
Iron, 95%" h.
(243 cm.)
11
HOLES (BUCHI)
23
49 B
3.
1949
Oil on paper
mounted on canvas, 39% x 39%"
(100 x 100 cm.)

Collection Carla Panicali,
24
Rome
49/50 B
10.
1949-50
Oil on canvas, 4314 x
42%" (no x
109 cm.)
Collection Kunsthaus Zurich
'
*
1
r:
>:{:
.'*'
*3
36
14
'
25
jo B
6.
1950
Oil on canvas,
31
% x 25 >4 "
(81
x 64 cm.)
Collection Milena Milani, Savona
26
ji B
3.
1951
.
Oil on canvas,
27%
'
x 39V6" (69.5 x 99.5 cm.)
*5
26
>7
27

Si By. 195
Oil
on canvas, 33V2 x 25%"
(85
x 65 cm.)
Collection Hannelore B. Schulhof
27
38
51 B
17.
1951
Oil with sand
on canvas,
23%
x 23 '/i" (60 x 59 cm.
Collection Tcresita Fontana, Milan
28
2.9
J1/52B7. 1951-52
Oil with spangles
30% x3o%"
(78
on paper mounted on canvas,
x78
cm.)
'
30

51I 5Z B 8. 1951-52
Oil with spangles
3014
X30I4"
(77
on paper mounted on canvas,
x77
cm.)
fft
.,,..,
30
2-9
40
'
31

51/52.B9. 1951-52-

Si
3. 1952.
on paper mounted on canvas, 31V& x 31%"

(79 x 79 cm.)
Oil with spangles
Lent by Studio Santandrea, Milan
Oil
31
31
on cardboard, 31V2 x 31V2"
(80 x 80 cm.)
31
33
52 B
9.
1952
Oil with spangles on paper

31I/2X31V2" (80x80 cm.)
mounted on canvas,
33
42-
34
52 B 17. 1952.
Oil
on canvas, 19% x 19%" (50 x 50 cm.)
Collection Enrico Lucci, Biella
~>
34
35
Spatial Conception, Trinity (Concetto Spaziale,
La
Trinita)
66 B
8, 9, io.
1966
Water-based paint on canvas with lacquered wood

frame, three panels, each 8o|4 x 80^" (203 x 203 cm.
Lent by Marlborough Galleria d'Arte,
Rome
35
44
4^
STONES (PIETRE)
36
54 P
9-
1954
Oil with glass
on canvas, 2314 x Z7%"
Collection Mr. and Mrs. Berlingieri,
46
(59 x 69.5 cm.)
Rome
37
SfPzo. 1955
Oil with glass on canvas, 4914 x 3314"
Collection Stedelijk
(iz-5
x 85 cm.)
Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The
Netherlands
1
.^
<
W-
''
'
Jt'
V'
'*
*
v>
fi
v.
:-'
VfSh
<*
*.
./
'.''
37
47
38
55P2S. 1955
Oil,
sand and glass on wood, 69V4 x
(176 x 126 cm.)

Collection Serge
De
Bloe, Brussels
38
48
49%"
39
55 P 29. 1955
Spatul
S5?37.
Oil with glass on canvas,

Private Collection,
40
Milan
55^
x 31 />" (140 x 80 cm.)
'onception
'oncetto Spaziale)
195 j
Oil with glass
on canvas,
3i'/> x
Lent by Gallcria Scno, Milan
40
39
2.5%" (80 x 65 cm.)
BAROQUE (BAROCCHI
41
56
BA
2.
1956
Oil with spangles
on canvas, 39% x 53V2"
(100 x 136 cm.)
Civica Galleria d'Arte Moderna,

Collection Boschi, Milan
4i
50
42.

^6
BA
6.
1956
Oil with spangles
on canvas, 38% x 30%"
Private Collection,
(98 x 78 cm.)
Europe
41
Jl
43
Spatial Conception, Crucifixion (Concetto Spaziale,

Crocifissione)
56
BA
9.
1956
Oil with glass on wood, 49% x 68%" (125 x 175 cm.)

43
52.
44
Spatial Conception, Golgotha (Concetto Spaziale,

11
s6
Golgotha)
BA 10. 1956
Oil with glass on
wood, 68% x
49'/$" (175
x 125 cm.

44
J3
45
Spatial Conception, Inferno (Concetto Spaziale,
L'lnferno)
56
BA
13.
1956
Oil with glass on canvas,
47%
x 36 5/g" (izi x 93 cm.
Private Collection
45
54
46
Spatial Conception, Paradise (Concetto Spaziale,

II Paradiso)
j6
BA
14.
1956
Oil with glass on canvas, 47V4 x
35%" (120x91
cm.)
Collection Laurini
\ji
(j
47
57
BA
35. 1957
Oil with spangles on canvas, 49VS x 35V2" (115 x 9 cm.

Private Collection
47
56
48
S7BA47. 1957
Oil with spangles on canvas,
(116 x 90 cm.)
1957
45%
Collection Hannelorc B. Schulhof
48
49
x 35 '/>"
Oil, sand, glass
and spangles on canvas, 45 %
$5'
(116 x 89 cm.)
Lent by Galleria
Nuovo
Sagittario,
Milan
49
17
CHALKS
(GESSI)
50
54
G 3-
Pastel
1954
on canvas, 39% x
2.7V&" (100
x 69 cm.
51
54
6.
Pastel
1954
on canvas, 31V2 x 23%" (80 x 60 cm.)
58
5i
52
56
G 4.
Pastel
1956
on canvas,
25%
31%"
(65
x 81 cm.)
1 -.
52-
<9
53
Spatial Conception (Concetto Spaziale).
1956
Pastel
on canvas,
39^/8
x 3i 7/%" (100 x 81 cm.)
Lent bv Galleria del Naviglio, Milan
S3
60
54
57
G 6.
Pastel
1957
on canvas, 31V2 x 23 5/fi"
(80.5
x 60 cm.)
Collection Mario Bardini, Varigotti
54
...
55
56
6z
"
55
57G19. 1957
Pastel with collage
57
on canvas, 41
% x 49%
(105 x 125 cm.)
8G 7
1958
Aniline and pencil on canvas,
38y8
x 5i'/8 " (98 x 130 cm.)
Civica Gallcria d'Arte Moderna,

56
57
G 23.
1957
Pastel with collage
on canvas,
44%
x 65" (114 x 165 cm.)

57
63
INKS (INCHIOSTRI
58
57
4-
1957
Aniline and collage on canvas,
58%
58
64
x 59" (149 x 150 cm.)
'
59
57
5-
1957
Aniline and collage on canvas, 59 x 59" (150 x 150 cm.)
59
60
5 8l 7 1958
.
Aniline with ink and collage on canvas,

(135 x 98 cm).
53%
* 38%"
U
V
60
66
'
Li
61
58
1 8.
1958
Aniline with ink and collage on canvas, 65 x 50"

(165 x 127 cm.)
61
67
6z
58
44. 1958
Aniline with pencil and collage on canvas, 31V2 x

(80 x 100 cm.)
Collection
Raimondo
61
68
Bariatti,
Milan
39%"
63
Spatial Conception (Concetto Spaziale).
1958
Aniline and collage on canvas, 59 x 59" (150 x 150 cm.
Collection Louisiana
PAPERS (carte;
64
1957?
Aniline, ink and pencil on paper mounted on canvas,
78 7/8 x 55" (200.4 x 139-7 cm.)
The Museum of Modern

Morton G. Neumann, 1976
Collection
Gift of
64
70
Art,
New
York,
65
58
CA
11.
1958
Aniline on paper
(100 x 100 cm.)

Collection Fornaciari-Rom.i
65
66
58/59
CA
2.
1958-59
Aniline on paper
(81 x 100 cm.)
66
71
6j
58/59
CA
4.
1958-59
Aniline on paper
mounted on canvas,
},6V\
47%
(92 x 111 cm.)
67
73
OILS (OLII)
68
60
O 4j.
i960
Oil on canvas, 59 x 59" (150 x 150 cm.)
Collection
Musee National
//
l
u
B*.l
<r 5f*'
68
74
'
.
d'Art Moderne, Paris CNAC-gp
69
Spatial Conception, In the Piazza
S.
Marco by Night
with Teresita
(Concetto Spaziale, In Piazza
S.
Marco
di Notte
con Teresita)
61
>-/.
1)6
Oil with glass
on canvas, 59 x 59" (150 x 150 cm.)
Private Collection
v..
L**"
-.
.jj
'1
jFrnBi
''''.
.-,
'
<
4
'
.A 4
f
'
w
*-.
-;
4^
"?
.
1
"
*"i
"
''
'
>
(1
r'':
J,
^^^^^^
_if- -.
>i:-
..
69
7J
70
Spatial Conception, Venice
Moon (Concetto Spaziale,
Luna a Venezia)
61
O 57.
1961
Oil with glass and stones on canvas, 59 x 59"

(150 x 150 cm.)
Collection
Mario Gori, Milan
70
76
71
62
26.
1962
Oil on canvas,
51%
x 38 1/:" (131 x 97 cm.)
Private Collection, Europe
71
77
72
62
O 35.
Oil
1962
on canvas, 57^ x 44%" (146 x 114 cm.)
Collection Francesco Ridolfi
7i
78
73

62
47. 1962
Oil on canvas, 3614 x
38%"
(92.
x 73 cm.)
Collection Jan and Ingeborg van der Marck,
West Lebanon,
New Hampshire
^vt
'.
73
CUTS (TAGLI)
74
Spatial Conception, Expectations (Concetto Spaziale,

Attese)
s8T
2.
1958
Aniline on canvas, 38 5/g x 53V&" (98 x 135 cm.)

74
80
75
Attese)
58
T 3.
1958
Aniline on canvas, 39 3/4 xsi'/s" (ioox 130 cm.)
75
j6
Attese)
59
133- 1959
Water-based paint on canvas,

(126 x 250 cm.)
Collection
The Solomon
Gift, Teresita
76
82
R.
49%
98%"
Guggenheim Museum,
Fontana, Milan
New
York;
77
Spatial Conception, Expectations (Concetto Spaziale

Attese)
61
T 22.
1961

(80.8 x 60 cm.)
Collection
34%
Kunstmuseum Bern
77
23%"
78

Attese)
62
T 7.
1962
Oil on canvas, 38I/4

Private Collection,
78
84
x ^iVs"
Milan
(97
x 130 cm.)
79
Attese)
63
4.
1963
Water-based paint on canvas, 21V2 x 18" (55 x 46 cm.)

Collection Carlo
F. Bilotti,
New York
79
80
Attese)
6$
T 43.
1965
Water-based paint on canvas with lacquered

frame, 57^8 X45V4" (145 x 115 cm.)
Collection
Ambassador and Mrs. Piero
80
86
wood
Vinci,
New York
Spatial Conception, Expectation (Concetto Spaziale
Attesa)
65
T 48.
196 j-

76V4 x si '," (i9S x 130cm.)
1
Collection Kunsthaus Zurich
Not
in
exhibition
81
wood
frame,
8i
Attese)
65
T 78.
1965
Water-based paint on canvas, zi l/s x 18"

Collection Carlo
F. Bilotti,
New York
82.
88
(55
x 46 cm.)
83
Spatial Conception, Expectation (Concetto Spaziale,

Attesa)
66
T 39.
1966
Water-based paint on canvas, 64V2 x
44%"
(164 x 114 cm.)
Collection Stedelijk
Museum, Amsterdam
83
84
Attese)
66
ji.
1966

(115 x 190 cm.)
Private Collection
84
90
45^
74%"
?5
Spiitiiil
Conception, Expectations (Concetto Spaziale,
Attese)
1966
Water-based paint on canvas, 40V8 x

Collection Louisiana
32%"
(ioix 83 cm.)
8S
86

Attese)
67
T 47-
1967
Water-based paint on canvas, 21V2 x 18"

Collection Carlo
F. Bilotti,
New York
86
92.
(55 x
46 cm.)
87
Spatial Conception, Expectation (Concetto Spaziale,
Attesa)
68
105. 1968

Collection Carlo
F. Bilotti,
New
87
/?
x 18" (55 x 46 cm.
York
QUANTA
88
Spatial Conception,
1
Quanta (Concetto
Spaziale,
Quanta)
60
1.
i960
Water-based paint on canvas, nine freely arranged

elements ranging in size from 20 x 9V2" (50.8 x 24 cm.) to
24V2 x 20%" (62.3 x 5 1.1 cm.)
94
88
NATURE (NATURE)
89
S9/60
18.
1959-60
Bronze, 38 14"
d. (97
cm.)
Cast no. 1/3

Collection Joseph H. Hirshhorn
90
59/60
N 28.
1959-60
Bronze, 36'/^" d. (92 cm.)
Cast no. 1/3

J^SSJki
89-93
96
91
59/60
N 29.
93
59/60
1959-60
N 33.
1959-60
43%"
(no
Bronze, 36*4 " d. (92 cm.)
Bronze,
Cast no. 1/3
Cast no. 1/3
d.
cm.)
92
59/60
N 30.
1959-60
Bronze, 40 Vk"
d.
(102 cm.)
Cast no. 1/3

IN
*..-*
"
f.
tgu
***:
j:
.-
94
1959-60
Painted terra-cotta,
(2.2.2.
x 21.5 x
2.Z.2.
8%
8V2 x 8%"
cm.)
Private Collection
94
98
METALS (METALLI)
95
Spatial Conception, Neic York S (Concetto Spaxiale,
New York 8)
Mj. 1962
62
Brass, 24
v
,
x 24
v,"
(63 x 63 cm.)
Collection Zaira Mis, Brussels
95
96
Spatial Conception,
New
61
New
York 2j (Concetto
Spaziale,
York zj)
ME 16.
1962
Brass, 38 x 25 1/4 " (96.5 x 64 cm.)
Collection Washington University Gallery of Art,

St.
Louis
CERAMIC (CERAMICA)
97
S/iiituI
Conception
Ceramic,
9x9 x n"
Concetto Spaziale)
12.9 \ 2.2.9 \ 8 cm.)
Collection Jan and Ingeborg van dcr Marck,
West Lebanon,
New Hampshire
97
101
GOD
IS
DEAD (FINE
DI DIO)
Green Oval Conception (Concetto Ovale Verde)

63
FD
9.
1963
Oil on canvas, 70 x
Collection
101
48%"
Kunstmuseum
(178 x 123 cm.)

Diisseldorf,
Zero-Raum
99
Oval Conception (Concetto Ovale)

6?
FD
Oil
20.
on canvas, 70 x 48%" (178 x 123 cm.)
Collection Serge
De
99
100
Oval Conception (Concetto Ovale)

63
1963
Bloe, Brussels
FD
27. 1963
Oil with spangles on canvas,

Private Collection
H
100
70%
48%"
(180 x 114 cm.)
SMALL THEATERS (TEATRINI)
64/65
TE
2.
1964-65

4zy8 x 4814" (107.5 x 122.5 cm.)
Lent by Acquavella Galleries,
104
Inc.,
New York
wood frame
65
TE
jo.
1965

frame, 51% x 50%" (130 x 128 cm.)
Private Collection
102
wood
103
65
TE
24. 1965

frame, 79% x 60^" (102. x 153 cm.)
103
106
wood
io4
105
Spatial Conception,
UUomo
65TE39. 1965
frame, 68V2 x 68V2" (174 x 174 cm.)
Private Collection
wood
65
TE
nel
<>o.
Man
1.;
>
\
\
)
V.
104
'osmos
'om etto Spaziale,
i9f>s
Water-based paint on canvas w it h lacquered

frame, 59 x 59" (150 x 150 cm.)
Collection Gaslini, Milan
in the
Cosmo)
- -1
105
wood
CHRONOLOGY
1937
Born February 19
in
Rosario de Santa Fe, Argentina, to
Luigi Fontana, a Milanese sculptor,
and Argentinian
mother.
Makes
series of open-fire ceramics at Sevres factory,
Paris. First
at Galerie
one man exhibition in Paris, ceramics show

Jeanne Bucher-Myrbor. Meets Miro, Tzara,
Brancusi in Paris.
1905
Moves
to
later
apprenticed to an
is
Milan with
father; enters elementary school,

artist.
1939
Resettles in Argentina at
end of year.
1917-18
World War
wounded.
military
service,
during which he
is
1940
Works mainly
in
Buenos
Aires, but also at Rosario de
Santa Fe, La Plata, Cordoba,
1922
Returns to Rosario de Santa Fe, where he works as
From 1940-46
his sculpture
Mar
is
del Plata, Pergamino.
primarily figurative, but
expressionist elements appear with increasing frequency.
sculptor in father's commercial studio.
1946
1924
own
Establishes his
studio; intermittently
works with
father.
Establishes
Academia d'Altamira
Aires with Jorge
Romero
Buenos
Manistudents and
art school in
Brest. Publication of
festo Blanco, conceived by a group of his

young artists. Although he strongly influenced concep-
1926
First exhibition,
group show
at
Salon Nexus, Rosario
tion of
Manifesto Fontana did not sign

,
it.
de Santa Fe.
1947
Returns to
1928
To Milan
again; enrolls at
Accademia
di Brera, studies
there with Symbolist sculptor Adolfo Wildt.
Milan, establishes
artists.
Frequent discus-
sions lead to publication of 1 Manifesto Spaziale,
May,
signed by Fontana and others.
1930
First
Italy in April. Settles in
contact with group of young
one man show, Galleria del Milione, Milan.
sculptures exhibited at Venice Biennale. Black

(Uotfio Nero),
shown
at I"
Mostra Interregional
marks beginning of his personal sculptural

Meets Teresita Rasini, his future wife.
ence,
Two
Man
Flor-
1948
Signs //" Manifesto Spaziale with others.
style.
1949
Bucbi (Holes), punctured canvases. Designs spatial

environment at Galleria del Naviglio, Milan. February
10, symposium on this environment held at a weekly
First
193'
In addition to
executing numerous terra-cotta
dematerializcd
lets in free
human
silhouettes, incises
reliefs
of
cement tab-
and abstract manner.
Modern
1935
With Fausto Melotti and others

(
'.rcation
group
joins
Abstraction-
in Paris.
1936
Works
as ceramicist at Tullio Mazotti's Tullio d'Albi-
sola ceramic works, Albisola.
108
meeting of Germana Marucelli's Jendi

pates in Twentieth-Century Italian Art,
Art,
New
circle.
Partici-
The Museum
of
York.
1950
Increasingly concerned with ideas of space in painting
and experiments with Bucbi, piercing paper and canvas

make spatial screens. 111 Manifesto Spaziale, signed
by Fontana and others, published.
to
1951
Begins Pietre (Stones) series in which he incorporates
Murano
"stones," which are fragments of
glass, into
competition for commission

Milan Cathedral. Entries exhibited at
IX Milan Triennale, although doors were never executed. Also installs environment of neon tubing in
his canvases. Participates in
for fifth portal of
ceiling with indirect lighting at Triennale; presents his
Manifesto Tecnico there.
1966
Designs spatial environment for retrospective
at
Walker
Art Center, Minneapolis. Costumes and sets for Petrassi's
opera Ritratto di
Don
Chisciotte,
La Scala, Milan.
1967
Conceives three space environments: Stedelijk Museum,
Amsterdam; exhibition Lo Spazio dell'lmmagine,

Foligno; Galleria del Deposito, Genoa.
1968
1951
Receives
first
prize ex
aequo with Luciano Minguzzi
Moves
to Comabbio where he restores his family house,

which he builds new studio. September 7 dies at
Comabbio.
in
for
Milan Cathedral door. Manifesto del movimento
spaziale per la televisione published.
1954
First Gessi (Chalks)
with holes, sometimes with collage,
on canvas.
1956
Begins Inchiostri (Inks)
made
of aniline, sometimes with
collage and/or holes.
1958
First Tagli (Cuts),
hopes).
One man
which he
calls Attese (expectations
exhibition,
XXIX
or
Venice Biennale.
1959
First
Quanta, oval or polygonal canvases used
arranged groups. During
summer
Nature terra-cottas. Participates

sel; V Sao Paolo Bienal.
in
at
in freely
Albisola begins
Documenta
II,
Kas-
1960-61
Between 1960-61 begins
series
of Olii (Oils). Large-
scale oils dedicated to Venice; these
shown
in
196 1 at
Arte e Contemplazione, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, then
in
New York at Martha Jackson Gallery. During visit to

New York on occasion of this exhibition conceives
cycle devoted to the
American metropolis, first as paintMilan in Metalli, incised,
ings, then after his return to
cut and perforated sheet metal.
1964-66
Teatrini (Small Theaters) series of pierced canvases with
superimposed wooden elements.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
BY THE ARTIST
MONOGRAPHS
Prima mostra
Eduardo
collettiva di arte astratta italiana. Turin,
March 1935
Introduction signed by Fontana, Oreste Bogliardi, Cristoforo
De
Osvaldo
Amicis, Ezio d'Errico, Virginio Ghiringhelli,
Licini,
Mauro
Fausto Melotti,
Campo
Grafico,
Baumbach, Le Sadture
Campo
Arias,
di Litcio Fontana, Milan,
Grafico, 1938
Agnoldomenico
Manifiesto Blanco. Buenos Aires, 1946

Edited by Bernardo Arias, Horacio Cazenueve, Marcos
Fridman and signed by Pablo
E. E.
Reggiani, At-
tanasio Soldati, Luigi Veronesi
Rodolfo Burgos,
Enrique Benito, Cesar Bernal, Luis Coll, Alfredo Hansen, Jorge
Persico, Lucio Fontana, Milan,
1936
Rocamonte
Fontana
Pica,
e lo Spazialismo, Venice,
Cavallino, 1953
Michel Tapie, Devenir de Fontana, Turin, Fratelli Pozzo,

1961; English translation, Fontana, New York, Abrams,
1962
Enrico Crispolti, Carriera "Barocca" di Lucio Fontana:
saggio e alcune note, Milan, All'insegna del Pesce
Spaziali [First Spatialist Manifesto]. Milan, 1947
in
Signed by Fontana, Beniamino Joppolo, Giorgio Kaisserlian, Milena Milani
d'Oro, 1963
Spaziali [Second Spatialist Manifesto]. Milan, 1948
Signed by Fontana, Gianni Dova, Joppolo, Kaisserlian,

Milani, Antonio Tullier
F.
de Bartolomeis, Segno antidisegno di Lucio Fontana,
Turin, Ediz. Pozzo, 1967
Proposta di un Regolamento [Third Spatialist Manifesto]. Milan, April 2, 1950

Signed by Fontana, Carlo Cardazzo, Roberto Crippa,
Giampiero Giani, Joppolo, Milani

Manifesto Tecnico. Milan, April
Juan Eduardo Cirlot, Lucio Fontana, Barcelona, Editorial Gustavo Cili, 1966
2,
Guido
zioni
un
Ballo, Fontana: idea per

lite,
1970;
German
ritratto,
Turin, Edi-
translation, Lucio Fontana,
Cologne-Lindenthal, Phaidon-Verlags-GmbH, 1971
'
195
Signed by Fontana
Manifesto dell'arte spaziale [Fourth Spatialist ManiMilan, November 26, 195

Signed by Fontana, Antonio Guilio Ambrosini, Giancarlo Carozzi, Crippa, Mario De Luigi, Dova, Virgilio
Enrico Crispolti and Jan van der Marck, Lucio Fontana,

2 vols., Brussels, La Conaissance, 1974
festo].
Guidi, Joppolo, Milani, Berto Morucchio, Cesare Peverelli,
Vinicio Vianello
EXHIBITION PAMPHLETS
AND CATALOGUES
Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Lucio Fontana,
June
1952
Signed by Fontana, Ambrosini, Alberto Burri, Crippa,
De Luigi, Bruno De Toffoli, Enrico Donati, Dova, Car-
April 18, 1953. Texts by the artist and others
Joppolo, Guido La Regina, Milani, Morucchio, Peverelli, Tancredi, Vianello

ozzi, Guidi,
Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Lucio Fontana, opening
artist
26-
Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Lucio Fontana, opening
Galleria del Zodiaco,

tana, opening
March
Rome, Ceramiche
16, 1955.
di Lucio FonText by Raffaele Carrieri
Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Lucio Fontana, February

2-11, 1957.
Text by Giampiero Giani
Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, Lucio Fontana,
April 18 1953.
Catalogue text by the
6,
May
1952. Text by Giampiero Giani
Manifesto del movimento spaziale per la televisione

[Spatialist Manifesto for Television]. Milan, May 17,
5-15, 1957.
Text by Franco Russoli
November
Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., London, Between Space and

Earth: Trends in Contemporary Italian Art, May 1957.
Text by Lawrence Alloway
XXIX
Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Lucio Fontana, June
14-October
19, 1958.
March
cember
15, 1959.
November 28-De-
Museum Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen,

Monochrome Malerei, March 13-May i960. Text by
Stadtisches
Lawrence Alloway
Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, Lucio Fontana:

Ten Paintings of Venice, November 21-December 16,
1961. Text by Lawrence Alloway
Museum
Schloss Morsbroich, Leverkusen,
Fontana, January 12-February 25, 1962. Texts by Lawrence Alloway, Juan-Eduardo Cirlot, Enrico Crispolti,
Charles Damiano, Rupprecht Geiger,
Udo Kultermann,
Kurt Leonhard, Paul Oliver, Otto Piene, William Turn-
Verheyen
Gimpel Hanover Galerie, Zurich, Lucio Fontana,

21-June 15, 1963. Text by Pierre Rouve
May
Marlborough Galleria d'Arte, Rome, Fontana, MarchApril 1964. Text by Guido Ballo
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Lucio Fontana: The
Spatial Concept of Art, January 6-February 13, 1966.
Texts by Arman, Jan van der Marck, Otto Piene.
Traveled to University of Texas Museum, Austin; Centro de Artes Visuales, Instituto Torcuato di Telia,
Buenos Aires; Marlborough-Gerson Gallery, New York
Stedelijk
7,
Museum, Amsterdam, Fontana, March
3-April
1967. Texts by Alain Jouffroy, Jan van der Marck,
Otto Piene, Pierre Rouve, reprinted from various catalogues. Traveled to Stedelijk van
hoven
Ville de Paris,
Lucio Fon-
Text by Enrico
Cris-
Palazzo Reale, Milan, Lucio Fontana, April 19-June 21,

1972. Text by Paolo Pillitteri. Traveled to Palais des
Beaux-Arts, Brussels
Text by Enrico Crispolti
January 29, i960. Text by Agnoldomenico Pica
bull, Jef
la-
17, 1959.
Galerie Alfred Schmela, Diisseldorf, Fontana, opening
Stadtisches
Musee d'Art Moderne de

polti
Text by Michel Tapie

Galleria di Notizie, Turin, Fontana,
Moderna, Turin, Lucio Fontana,
February 5-March 28, 1970. Texts by Franco Passoni,

Luigi Malle
tana, June 10-September 6, 1970.
Text by Guido Ballo, pp. 19-21
Galerie Stadler, Paris, Fontana, opening
Galleria Civica d'Arte
Abbe Museum, Eind-
Kunsthaus Zurich, Lucio Fontana: Concetti Spaziali,

2-May 23, 1976. Text by Erika Gysling-Billeter
April
PHOTOGRAPHIC CREDITS
The majority
many
of photographs, including
credited
O.
were supplied by the
to individual photographers,
J.
Archivio Lucio Fontana.
E.
Nelson,
New York:
G. Rampazzi, Turin:
cat. nos.
Courtesy Acquavella Galleries,
Inc.,
New
York:
101
Archivio Lucio Fontana:
cat. nos. i, 2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11,
17, 18, 20, 11, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34, 36,
41, 43, 44, 46, 49, 50, 51, 52, 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 61,
63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 72, 74, 75, 76, 84, 88, 100, 102, 105
R and
48
cat. nos. 8, 16,
47
Courtesy Rijksmuseum Kroller-Muller, Otterlo:
BLACK AND WHITE

cat. no.
cat. no.
Nintzel Sweatshop: cat. no. 97
Gian
89-93
Sinigaglia, Milan: cat. no.
Studio Sintesi, Milan:
Bacci Attilio, Milan: cat. no. 19
40
104
Courtesy Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam:
cat. no.
83
Strtiwing Reklamefoto: cat. nos. 63, 85
David Van Riper:
C, Milan: cat. no. 62
cat. no.
cat. no.
73
COLOR
Bartoli, Albisola: cat. no. 54
Archivio Lucio Fontana:

Paul Bijtebier, Brussels: cat. no. 99
Giancarlo Campeggi, Milan:
Lorenzo Capellini, Milan:

Enrico Cattaneo, Milan:
Courtesy Kunsthaus Zurich:

cat. nos. 15,
cat. no.
cat. no.
Antonis,
Rome:
cat. no.
E.
cat. nos. 38, 80,
32
O.
E.
New
Mates and Mary Donlon,
Nelson,
York:
95
New
York:
cat. no.
27
37
42
Studio Ennio D'Apice, Milan:
Rampazzi Ferruccio, Turin:
14
cat. no.
cat. no. 81
39
Robert
Martien Coppens, Eindhoven:
De
cat. nos. 33, 53, 58, 70,
cat. no.
cat. no.
78
Fortunati Fototechnica, Milan: cat. no. 45
David Gulick:
cat. no.
96
Courtesy Kunstmuseum Bern:
cat. no.
77
Landesbildstelle Rheinland, Dusseldorf: cat. no. 98

Titti
Marchese, Milan:
cat. nos. 3, 4, 13, 71
Marlborough Galleria
Robert
E.
cat. nos. 79, 82, 86, 87,
Ugo Mulas, Milan:

Courtesy The
cat. no.
64
d'Arte,
Rome:
Mates and Mary Donlon,
77/5
2,500 copies of this catalogue,
cat. no. 35
New
EXHIBITION
York:
designed by Malcolm Grear Designers
and typeset by Dumar Typesetting,
Inc.,
have been printed by Eastern Press,
Inc.,
94
cover,
Museum
of
figs, in
the text, cat. no. 103
Modern
Art,
New
in
York:
October 1977 for the Trustees of
The Solomon
R.
Guggenheim Foundation.
74

RetroRetrospective (Lucio Fontana, 1899-1968) Spective (Lucio Fontana, 1899-1968) (1977)

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FONTANA

Guggenheim Museum, New York

Published by The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation,

Printed in the United States

Cover photograph by Ugo Mulas

Jalet, Secretary to the

Louise Averill Svendsen, Curator; Diane Waldman, Curator of Exhibitions; Margit

Linda Konheim, Curatorial Administrator; Linda Shearer. Assistant Curator; Carol

Poser, Public Affairs Officer;

Susan Hirschfcld, Public Affairs Coordinator

arolyn PorceJli, Development Associate

Sales Coordinator; Darrie

David Roger Anthony,

echnical officer; Orrin H. Rile\.

onsen ator; Dana

Donlon, Assistant Photographer.

Bu tiding Superintendent; Gu)

Digitized by the Internet Archive

2012 with funding from

York Library Council

LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION

Mario Bardini, Varigotti

Civica Galleria d'Artc Moderna, Milan

Civica Galleria d'Artc Moderna,

Mr. and Mrs.

Galleria Civica d'Artc

Guggenheim Museum, New York

Collection Gaslini, Milan

Mario Gori, Milan

Museum, Humlebaek, Denmark

d'Art Moderne. Pans

Enrico Lucci, Biella

Jan and Ingeborg van der Marck,

Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum,

Washington Universit) Gallerj

Zaira Mis, Brussels

Collection Pollini, Milan

Studio B.B.P.R., Milan

Luigi Veronesi, Milan

Ambassador and Mrs.

Studio Santandrea, Milan

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Lucio Fontana did not come to the attention of a broader American

daring canvas cuts marked him as a powerful

confronted and absorbed, curiosity about

place within the wider premise of innovative thought follows in

satisfy this interest

was staged by Erika

been honored by numerous retrospectives there since his death

Guggenheim has undertaken

for such an exhibition existed in Europe, since Fontana's

Zurich, where she

Associate Director and Curator of

Art. Dr. Billeter

and we owe our

invited to be curator of the current presentation,

the extensive help

In these tasks she

was aided by others

accomplishment could only have been achieved with

Milan. The Archivio's President, Signora Teresita Fontana. the

widow, and Valeria

conception and realization of