Achrome

Details

Piero Manzoni (1933-1963)
Achrome
cotton balls
7.1/8 x 9¾in. (18 x 25cm.)
including artist's frame: 14¼ x 16.5/8in. (36.1 x 42.2cm.)

Executed in 1961-1962

Provenance

Cochrane Collection, Turin.
Antonio Maschera Collection.
Gianni Manzo Collection, Milan.
Studio Casoli, Milan.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.

Literature

T. del Renzio and U. Agliani Lucas, Piero Manzoni, Milan 1967 (illustrated, p. 65).
G. Celant, Piero Manzoni Catalogo generale, Milan 1975, no. 11 bc (illustrated, p. 232).
F. Battino & L. Palazzoli, Piero Manzoni: Catalogue Raisonné, Milan 1991, no. 744 BM (illustrated, p. 379).
G. Celant, Piero Manzoni Catalogo generale, vol. II, Milan 2004, no. 934 (illustrated, p. 532).

Exhibited

Cannes, Casino Municipal, L’art actuel en Italie, 1965-1966, no. 46 (illustrated, unpaged). This exhibition later travelled to Rome, Galleria d’Arte Moderna; Dortmund, Fritz-Henssler-Haus Gartensaal; Bergen, Bergens Kunstforening and Oslo, Kunstnernes Hus.
Tokyo, The National Museum of Art, Exhibition of Contemporary Italian Art, 1967 (illustrated, p. 41).
Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Roma anni ’60 - Al di la della pittura, 1990-1991 (illustrated, p. 68).
Milan, Palazzo Reale, Piero Manzoni. Milano et mitologia, 1997, no. 65 (illustrated, p. 85).

Special Notice

Artist's Resale Right ("Droit de Suite"). Artist's Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent.

Brought to you by

Alessandro Diotallevi

adiotallevi@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2954

Lot Essay

This cotton ball achrome highlights our personal predilection for this type of work by Manzoni. These cotton balls against a red velvet background eloquently express the concept of the work: the orderly arrangement of the cotton balls constituting the material and the form of the picture, the artist's original white wooden box that contains them; the back of the work sealed with pieces of canvas.
A highly respectable pedigree, and an excellent provenance, make this an achrome that you would be proud to take home. Even if you know that the uninitiated will ask you who is this artist who frames cotton balls, and why does he do so? You will answer only those who question you with a particular light in their eyes, in which you detect wonder and the need to know. Ignore the others.

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