Lucio Fontana was one of the most influential and innovative figures of twentieth-century Italian art. From his earliest monumental sculptures and collaborations with architects in the 1930s to his spatial environments and slashed canvases of the 1950s and 1960s, Fontana's raw, vigorous, and richly expressive works overturned the conventions of art and challenged existing ideas about the role of the artist in the age of rapid technological development.
Throughout his lifetime, Fontana was driven by the spirit of exploration, constantly questioning and extending the boundaries of his own practice, confounding expectations, and provoking and amazing an ever-growing audience. This opulently illustrated and beautifully produced book shows how Fontana redefined the possibilities for art, using a rich vocabulary of material, form, color, and space. Produced to accompany a retrospective exhibition marking the artist's centenary at the Hayward Gallery, this book spans Fontana's prolific career and brings together over 100 of his sculptures and canvases as well as a reconstruction of one of his most physically impressive and distilled spatial environments. An incisive critical essay by Sarah Whitfield provides a more thorough understanding of Fontana's life, influences, and artistic achievements, while excerpts from the artist's writings and interviews give readers a chance to hear his distinctive voice firsthand. An illustrated chronology of Fontana's life and career, an exhibition history, and an annotated bibliography make Lucio Fontana an even more valuable resource.