Fontana

Concepts in space

Artworks as visual explanations of ideas


Italian artist Lucio Fontana tore apart the modern art establishment—literally. Trained initially as a sculptor, Fontana (1899-1968) blurred the lines between painting and sculpture by creating works that combined both form and color in a spatial context, most famously exemplified by his slashed canvases of the 1950s and 60s. Fontana`s work was truly conceptual, in that the ideas he wanted to express were more important than the actual work itself; with titles like Concetto Spaziale (Spatial Concept) and Scultura Spaziale (Spatial Sculpture), his pieces served as visual explanations of his ideas. From his early work in collaborating with architects through his years in Buenos Aires (where, in the mid-1940s, he published the famous "White Manifesto" and "Technical Manifesto of Spatialism," among others), his experimental light installations of the early 1950s, and his later experiments with various media, this book covers the entire career of Italy`s pioneering abstract artist.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Art Series features:
  • a detailed chronological summary of the artist's life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist
  • approximately 100 color illustrations with explanatory captions
  • a concise biography


The author:
Barbara Hess (b. 1964) is an art historian, critic and translator, resident in Cologne. Her numerous articles on contemporary art have featured in Camera Austria, Flash Art, Kunst-Bulletin and Texte zur Kunst. She co-curated the touring exhibition Ready to Shoot: Fernsehgalerie Gerry Schum/videogalerie schum at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Her TASCHEN titles include a monograph on Willem de Kooning.

Fontana

Fontana

Barbara Hess
Softcover, flaps, 7.3 x 9.1 in., 96 pages, $ 9.99
ISBN 978-3-8228-4918-7
Edition: English
Availability: In Stock
  • Reviews
"Bien que l’on puisse regretter le choix de l’éditeur TASCHEN de faire l’économie d’un appareil scientifique – dont les notes et la biographie créant un contexte critique indispensable – , le choix des auteurs, comme c’est le cas pour le présent ouvrage, s’avère cependant souvent judicieux. Le texte de Barbara Hess, agrémenté de références importantes – grand public certes – mais agréable à lire et de bonne analyse, constitue de fait une très bonne introduction à l’œuvre de Lucio Fontana." Revue Critique d'art, Châteaugiron, France
  • See also
Neo Rauch, Art Edition
Neo Rauch, Art Edition
Hardcover in a clamshell box, 13 x 17.3 in., 476 pages, $ 8000

A retrospective of Rauch's delirious painting. Limited edition of 100 copies
Neo Rauch
Neo Rauch
Hardcover in a clamshell box, 13 x 17.3 in., 476 pages, $ 1500

A retrospective of Rauch's delirious painting. Limited edition of 1,000 copies
Trespass. A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art
Trespass. A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art
Hardcover, 9.3 x 12.6 in., 320 pages, $ 39.99

The last outlaw of visual disciplines. Graffiti and unsanctioned art—from local origins to global phenomenon