Even if this part of Fontana’s career is undeniably the most famous one, and the one that imprinted the biggest mark on other artists, it is not the most widely represented in the retrospective.

Concetto spaziale, Attese, (Concept spatial, Attentes), 1966 © Fondazione Lucio Fontana, Milano / by SIAE / Adagp, Paris 2014.

These splendid works, peaceful in spite of the seemingly violent gesture that gave birth to them, only appear, according to chronology, in the latter part of the exhibition, when the eye and mind of the visitors are already full of emotions and incredible discoveries. This slightly lowers the effect of the lacerations, even if they remain powerful and fascinating after all these years, making Fontana really stand out as one of the major artists of the twentieth century.

Concetto spaziale (Concept spatial), 1961, Collection particulière, courtesy Sperone Gallery, New York. © Fondazione Lucio Fontana, Milano / by SIAE / Adagp, Paris 2014.

The real success of the retrospective is nevertheless its capacity of offering a new overall vision of Fontana’s researches, of reassessing his talent, not only as a two dimensional artist but also as a sculptor and ceramic artist, with many pieces shown for the first time in France and impressive installations. The ceramics occupy a large part of the first half of the exhibition.

Scultura astratt (Sculpture abstraite), 1934, collection Fondazione Lucio Fontana, Milan © Fondazione Lucio Fontana, Milano / by SIAE / Adagp, Paris 2014.

Ranging from small to bigger scales, these ceramics are colourful and baroque, and fully express the bubbling creativity of Fontana’s mind, his large knowledge of art history and techniques, the influence of Christianity and of funeral sculptural art (which he produced during a large part of his life). Amusing movies and photographs also recall the artist dead-pan sense of humor and the dandy-like style he created for himself.

Breaking the usual boundaries between abstraction and figuration, physical and metaphysical, Fontana navigated all along his career from utopia to reality, from science-fiction to Renaissance art, from kitsch to elegant and simple expression. He succeeded in harmoniously merging these very different concepts into a rich body of work that fully grasps the questionings of the twentieth century, and which remains as powerful now as it was then.

Lucio Fontana, Rétrospective
Date: April 25th – August 24th, 2014
Opening hours: 10:00 – 18:00 (Thursday till 22:00)
Closed on Monday
Place: Musée d’art moderne de la ville de Paris
Address: 11 avenue du Président Wilson, 75116 Paris
Tel: +46 (0)1 5367 4000
https://www.mam.paris.fr