Lucio Fontana

Lucio Fontana was born in Rosario de Santa Fé, Argentina, on February 19, 1899, to parents of Italian descent. He moved to Italy (specifically to Castiglione Olona, in the province of Varese) for his studies, beginning his artistic practice in his father's sculpture workshop, who had also returned to his homeland.

Fontana interrupted his schooling in 1916 due to Italy's involvement in the war; he enlisted in the army as a volunteer and was injured on the Carso. Upon his return, he resumed his studies and graduated as a building technician.

In 1921, he returned to his birthplace, continuing the family artistic tradition in his father’s studio "Fontana y Scarabelli," focusing on sculpture, particularly cemetery works. A few years later, in 1924, the artist decided to go solo, founding his own sculpture studio, where he began to achieve early successes, winning various public competitions and securing significant commissions.

Around mid-1927, he returned to Milan, enrolling at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera to attend the courses of Adolfo Wildt and the School of Marble. He graduated in 1929, presenting the sculpture El auriga as his final project. Initially, the influence of his Master was very evident, but by 1930, with the work Uomo nero, a break with his teachings was felt. The year 1930 was significant for Fontana: he participated in the XVII Venice Biennale, presenting the sculptures Eva (1928) and Vittoria fascista (1929), and held his first solo exhibition at the Galleria del Milione in Milan, organized by Edoardo Persico.

With Uomo nero, he began the theme of human figures rendered as geometric shapes, a motif repeated in a vast series of drawings and engraved tablets. In 1934, Fontana created a series of abstract, geometric sculptures in plaster supported by slender iron rods, marking a fundamental step in his artistic production.

Continuing his artistic experimentation from 1935 to 1939, he settled in Albisola at the workshop of his friend Giuseppe Mazzotti, where he engaged in ceramic production. In 1940, formal experiments continued with the creation of several round sculptures in colored mosaic and the inauguration of his first environmental work: the frieze Volo di Vittorie on the ceiling of the Sacrario dei martiri fascisti in Piazza San Sepolcro in Milan. That same year, he decided to return to his homeland, boarding a ship to Argentina on his father's suggestion to participate in the new competition for the Monumento Nacional a la Bandera.

Once resettled in Argentina, his sculptural activity flourished as he participated in numerous exhibitions. He also became a professor of "modeling" at various schools between Santa Fé and Buenos Aires. In 1946, along with Jorge Rornero Brest and Jorge Larco, he organized "Altamira, Escuela libre de artes plàsticas" in Buenos Aires, which became an important cultural dissemination center. In this innovative context, with the presence of young artists and intellectuals, the Manifiesto Blanco was born in November, published as a flyer: a text intended to enact a decisive shift towards contemporary art as we know it today.

In 1946, for the first time, the term "Concetto Spaziale" appeared in a group of drawings by the artist, a phrase that would accompany much of his subsequent artistic production. In March 1947, Fontana left for Italy, heading to Albisola, where he continued his ceramic activities, attracting critical attention. Meanwhile, in Milan, he established relationships with a group of young artists with whom he developed a fruitful debate, culminating in December with the first Manifesto dello Spazialismo, signed not only by Fontana but also by critic Giorgio Kaisserlian, philosopher Beniamino Joppolo, and writer Milena Milani.

In 1948, the second version of the Manifesto reaffirmed the need to go beyond past art, urging to "bring the painting out of its frame and the sculpture out of its glass bell," and to produce new forms of art using innovative means provided by technology.

The year 1949 was extremely significant for the artist as he created an emblematic work at the Galleria del Naviglio: Ambiente spaziale a luce nera, where a series of phosphorescent, floating elements were suspended from the ceiling of a completely black exhibition space. In the same year, he deepened his spatial research with the series "Buchi," painted works in which color interventions coexist with actual "vortices" of holes made with an awl.

From the early 1960s, Fontana focused particularly on the series of "Olii," works on canvas in which the paint material, applied in thick layers, is punctuated by holes or slashes. His relentless inventive drive corresponded to the many exhibitions dedicated to him: in Milan, Venice, Tokyo, London, and Brussels. Regarding iconographic references, the series "Fine di Dio" (1963-1964) is particularly important: oval-shaped canvases, monochromatic or sometimes sprinkled with glitter, crossed by holes and slashes.

Fontana’s career was crowned by a series of international recognitions: he was the protagonist of several solo exhibitions at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Marlborough Gallery in New York, and Galerie Alexander Iolas in Paris. Moreover, a significant room was dedicated to him at the XXXIII edition of the Venice Biennale, where he collaborated with architect Carlo Scarpa to create one of his spatial environments: an extraordinary work that won the Biennale prize. The year 1967 continued the theme of monochrome and slashing with the series "Ellissi." At the beginning of 1968, the artist left his studio on Corso Monforte and moved to Comabbio (VA). He passed away in Varese on September 7 of the same year.