Spatial concept
(Concetto spaziale)
(1964-1965)
Medium
metallic paint on canvas
Measurements
91.0 × 73.5 cm
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Purchased, 1973
© Lucio Fontana/SIAE, Rome. Licensed by Copyright Agency, Australia
Gallery location
Not on display
About this work
After he began studying at the Accademia di Brera, Milan, in 1928, Lucio Fontana forged his own approach to abstract art based on futurist notions of space and motion and the enthralling technological advances of the emerging space age. Fontana developed the fundamental concepts of what would become known as Spatialism in Argentina between 1939 and 1947. After he returned to Milan in 1947, Fontana sought ways to, as he wrote, ‘open up space, create a new dimension’ and ‘tie in the cosmos, as it endlessly expands beyond the confining plane of the picture’. The first of his ‘puncture canvases’, his Buchi (holes) series, was produced in 1949 and followed ten years later by Tagli (slashes).
Artwork Details
Inscription
incised in paint l.c.r.: Luciano Fontana
inscribed in pencil on reverse u.c.: l. Fontana / ,,Concetto Spaziale,,
Accession Number
EA3-1973
Department
International Painting
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited
Subjects (general)
Concepts and Ideas Nonrepresentational Art
Subjects (specific)
circles (plane figures) gold (colour) metallic (colour attribute) perforating space (composition concept) texture (artistic concept)
Movements
Spatialism