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Lot Essay
Created in 1965, Concetto spaziale, Teatrino is one of Lucio Fontana's 'little theatres', a group of works that he created from 1964 to 1966. These works comprised canvases that had been given lacquered frames that themselves incorporated shapes and silhouettes that often bordered on the figurative. For this reason, Fontana himself referred to the Teatrini such as this work as 'realist Spatialism' (Fontana, quoted in E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: Catalogo ragionato di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, Vol. I, Milan, 2006, p. 79). In this way, he appears to have been paying his respect to the new figurative art that was emerging in Europe and in the United States, not least under the banner of Pop Art.
As well as adding a further conceptual dimension to Concetto spaziale, Teatrino and its sister-works, the lacquered frames added an extra play of light. The gleam of the surface contrasts in Concetto spaziale, Teatrino with the more matte canvas of the backdrop, which itself has been punctured with a looping progression of holes, a formation which recalls bunting more than any constellation. In this sense, Concetto spaziale, Teatrino may reflect Fontana's excitement about the first space-walk, an event which took place in the same year that this work was created when cosmonaut Alexei Leonov stepped from his Voskhod 2 spacecraft and into the void, tethered to his ship but otherwise floating free.
In Concetto spaziale, Teatrino, the form at the bottom of the 'little theatre', the set design, as it were, has a jagged edge that hints at organic form, perhaps that of a leaf or even a tree, seen against a landscape background. It may also evoke nebulae and other such cosmic entities. Crucially, it sees Fontana re-establishing a link with the realm of figuration which he had forcibly eschewed in so many of his earlier Spatial art. That figurative element is here combined with a perforated canvas, adding to the sense of a landscape seen with a night sky, flecked with stars, and at the same time, reinforcing the Spatial credentials of Concetto spaziale, Teatrino.
As well as adding a further conceptual dimension to Concetto spaziale, Teatrino and its sister-works, the lacquered frames added an extra play of light. The gleam of the surface contrasts in Concetto spaziale, Teatrino with the more matte canvas of the backdrop, which itself has been punctured with a looping progression of holes, a formation which recalls bunting more than any constellation. In this sense, Concetto spaziale, Teatrino may reflect Fontana's excitement about the first space-walk, an event which took place in the same year that this work was created when cosmonaut Alexei Leonov stepped from his Voskhod 2 spacecraft and into the void, tethered to his ship but otherwise floating free.
In Concetto spaziale, Teatrino, the form at the bottom of the 'little theatre', the set design, as it were, has a jagged edge that hints at organic form, perhaps that of a leaf or even a tree, seen against a landscape background. It may also evoke nebulae and other such cosmic entities. Crucially, it sees Fontana re-establishing a link with the realm of figuration which he had forcibly eschewed in so many of his earlier Spatial art. That figurative element is here combined with a perforated canvas, adding to the sense of a landscape seen with a night sky, flecked with stars, and at the same time, reinforcing the Spatial credentials of Concetto spaziale, Teatrino.