Lucio Fontana

1899 – 1968

Biography

Lucio Fontana was born in the Santa Fé region of Argentina to an Italian father and Argentine mother. His father was a sculptor and by 1910 Fontana had begun an apprenticeship at his workshop in Rosario, having attended school since 1905 in Milan. After his military service in the First World War, he returned to Argentina to work with his father again, later opening his own studio.

In 1928, Fontana returned to Milan and enrolled at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts as a student of
Adolph Wildt. During this time he exhibited and entered competitions in Italy, Spain and Argentina, as he explored several different media and ways of working. In 1940 he settled in Buenos Aires, where he continued to win various sculpture competitions and became Professor of Sculpture at the School of Fine Art before co-founding the private Academy of Altamira, where he began to formulate his theories on artistic research.

After returning to Milan he produced his Primo Manifesto dello Spazialismo (First Manifesto of Spatialism) in 1949, in which he expressed his search for a new spatial art. In the same year he began to produce his first perforated canvases, which, along with all following pieces, he entitled 'Concetto Spaziale'. This led to his trademark slashes through the canvas, which permeated his work up until his death in 1968. The presence of Fontana's works in over 100 permanent collections worldwide is a testament to his importance in the history of Modern art and to his impact on the work of subsequent artists.

Images

Concetto Spaziale Attese 1965 Waterpaint on canvas 73 x 61 cm © Lucio Fontana / SIAE / DACS, London 2010. The depiction of artworks herein should not necessarily be considered an intimation of ownership

Concetto Spaziale La Fine di Dio 1964 Oil on canvas 178.1 x 122.9 cm © Lucio Fontana / SIAE / DACS, London 2010. The depiction of artworks herein should not necessarily be considered an intimation of ownership

Concetto Spaziale, New York 10 1961 Lacerations and scratched on aluminium 234 x 282 cm © Lucio Fontana / SIAE / DACS, London 2010. The depiction of artworks herein should not necessarily be considered an intimation of ownership