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Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

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Lucio Fontana

Spatial Concept, New York 22

1962

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In the late 1940s and early 1950s the Italian artist Lucio Fontana began slashing and puncturing his canvases, moving beyond the realm of two dimensions by actually opening his works up to the third dimension of real space. Fontana referred to this form of creative destruction as spatialismo (spatialism)—a process that, he claimed, would incorporate the third and fourth dimension, bringing time, movement, and speed into the previously limited domain of artistic illusionism. The vertically stacked perforations and incisions in the brass surface of this work may evoke the glass and metal skyscrapers of New York, which the artist first visited in 1961. The gashes and scrapes echo the expressive gestures of abstract painting, particularly art informel—gestures that embody both process and motion. [Permanent collection label, 2016]

  • Artist Lucio Fontana (Italian, b. Argentina, 1899–1968)
  • Title Spatial Concept, New York 22
  • Date 1962
  • Medium Incised and perforated sheet brass
  • Dimensions unframed | 52 1/8 x 25 1/8 x 7/8 in.
  • Credit line Gift of Joseph Pulitzer, Jr., 1967
  • Object number WU 4372

From Picasso to Fontana: Collecting Modern and Postwar Art in the Eisendrath Years, 1960–1968
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/23/2015 - 04/19/2015

Collecting Patterns
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/05/2003 - 12/07/2003

International Abstraction: Art of the 1950s from the Washington University Collections
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/22/1999 - 03/28/1999

Lucio Fontana 1899–1968: A Retrospective
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York, New York), 10/21/1977 - 12/08/1977

1967
Mr. Joseph Pulitzer, Jr.

Inscription Recto:

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.

Related Content

go to Collecting Patterns page
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Exhibitions

Collecting Patterns

September 05, 2003–December 07, 2003
go to International Abstraction: Art of the 1950s from the Washington University Collections page
no image
Exhibitions

International Abstraction: Art of the 1950s from the Washington University Collections

January 22, 1999–March 28, 1999
go to From Picasso to Fontana: Collecting Modern and Postwar Art in the Eisendrath Years, 1960–1968 page
no image
Exhibitions

From Picasso to Fontana: Collecting Modern and Postwar Art in the Eisendrath Years, 1960–1968

January 23, 2015–April 19, 2015
go to Lucio Fontana 1899–1968: A Retrospective page
no image
Exhibitions

Lucio Fontana 1899–1968: A Retrospective

October 21, 1977–December 08, 1977

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