SPATIALISM: ORIGIN, CHARACTERISTICS, WORKS AND REPRESENTATIVES - ART - 2024

The spatialism is a pictorial movement born in Italy and was promoted by the Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana in the fifties of the twentieth century. This artistic trend is framed within informalism, and is even considered a variant of material art.

Fontana conceived a group of plastic works that he baptized with the name of Concetto Spaziale (Spatial Concept). In 1946 he published the famous Manifesto bianco (White Manifesto) in Buenos Aires and a year later he founded the group Spazialismo (Spatialism) in Italy.

Lucio Fontana with his work.

The theoretical proposal of the pictorial movement was collected by the artist in the Manifesto of Spatialism, also published in 1947. Along with Fontana, other artists of the same trend, such as Kaisserlian, Milani and Joppolo, signed the document. Some time later they published five more artistic manifestos.

Spatialism was theorized by Fontana through seven manifestos conceived between 1943 and 1947, in which he developed some premises of Futurism, trying to recreate the language of painting and sculpture to adapt them to scientific-technical advances. It seeks to create spatial effects through "the material discontinuity of the canvas."

Origin

The official birth of spatialism takes place in Milan, Italy in 1947, after the publication of the White Manifesto. This work, which serves as a theoretical support for the movement, was published by Lucio Fontana in Buenos Aires in 1946.

It emerged in the early postwar years, coinciding with the birth of another movement: Abstract Expressionism in New York City.

Spatialism differs from abstract expressionism because it tries to detach itself from the easel and the painting itself to capture time and movement.

Fontana considers that these two elements (time and movement) are actually the main principles of the work. The artist departs from realism because he no longer finds a place in it to express his ideas; That is why he created his first Spatial Manifesto in which he synthesizes in part the way in which he conceives the creation of art.

The artist wanted to create artistic works "for the new era" with a future dimension in which he could show the "true space of the world". Spatialism mixes ideas from the Dada movement with tachismo and concrete art, highlighting the “physical discontinuity of the canvas”.

This movement investigated the relationship between man and the space that surrounds him to support his ideas. For this reason, Fontana said: "there is only one spatial concept of art."

Fontana's art movement left an important legacy to universal art in its quest to go beyond canvas and enrich conceptual and environmental art.

In the environment of the time, all culture, art, literature and fashion were after the search to break the mold.

characteristics

- Uses destructive techniques such as cuts, perforations, stabbing, tearing the canvas or burlap. Fontana was one of the most radical spatialists when creating works where the plastic expression was constituted by this type of "destructive" technique. The cuts were made on the fabric itself, which was painted in a flat color.

- The chromatic approach is very varied and diverse. Use monochrome backgrounds, like Fontana did; soft, evanescent shades (pink, green, ocher, and pastel blues) like Fautrier; and even dramatic color hues like Burri and Millares.

- The spatialist work is organized with contrasts of matter and non-matter. In this there is an absence of form and perspective.

- Spatialism allows the artist to express himself with total freedom through the "physical discontinuity of the canvas" and the "progressive simplification of forms". This brings spatialism closer to other movements, such as minimalism and conceptual art.

- He cares about the technical and physical area. It creates very expressive effects of material painting through the degradation of colors that are mixed with various materials of daily use: sawdust, sand, plaster, coal, glass, among others. It also inserts foreign materials into the frame such as clothing, scrap metal, pieces of wood, stones, and others.

The Spatialists and Spatialism

Spatialists were plastic artists who used to create their paintings and compositions with the help of nails and other objects. They did not prepare the racks (canvases on which it is painted) in the same way in which the other artists did and they did not paint them either.

Instead, they created and expressed their ideas on the fabric. In this way they demonstrated to the viewer the existence of three-dimensionality also in the pictorial field. They also highlighted the value of the blank space, which they consider an empty field.

Spatialism is influenced by the French artist Jean Dubuffet, who in the 1950s was also experimenting with materials in his works, and was precisely one of the representatives of informalism.

This type of art was linked to Art brut, a kind of non-academic, rather street art, created by marginalized people. They created “non-cultural” works with their own tools and skills.

With the premise of transcending abstraction and realism, spatialism stimulated the artist to develop new communication techniques and tools. This was achieved using the modern technology of the time (neon, television, radio). In addition, other shapes and colors were produced through the spaces.

Works and representatives

Spatialist research goes by necessity after the search for different interdisciplinary paths. It unites science, art and design, seeking to transform the space into a place of artistic action.

Furthermore, it creates an expressive modality conceived in physical terms; thus, space becomes the new means of communication and interrelation.

Before creating spatialism, Lucio Fontana had already had a long career as a sculptor and painter. He was closely linked to the abstract expressionist movement; That is why he looked for another way to express himself through spatial movement.

Fontana was born in 1899 in Rosario, Santa Fe (Argentina). He was trained in Italy, where he lived most of his life. His main artistic works are the monochrome canvases torn or pierced with a razor: these are his well-known tagli nella tela (cuts in cloth). The artist wanted to convey that there was depth in these canvases.

Fontana's main works

Spatial concept. Lucio Fontana.

Spatial concept. Lucio Fontana.

Spatial concept, sculpture. Lucio Fontana.

Spatial concept, sculpture. Lucio Fontana.

- Donna con fiore, 1948.

- Space concept, 1949.

- Concetto spaziale, 1955.

- White, Stations of the Cross, Station VII: Jesus falls the second time, 1955.

- Altarpiece of the Assumption of the Virgin, 1955.

- Spatial concept, expectations, 1959.

- Concetto spaziale. Attese, 1959.

- Spatial concept Waiting, Lucio Fontana, 1960.

- Concetto spaziale, Attese, 1961.

- I quanta, 1960.

Main representatives of spatialism

- Beniamino Joppolo.

- Giorgio Kaisserlian.

- Antonino Tullier.

- Milena Milani.

- Guido Antoni.

- Alberto Viani.

- André Breton.

- Jean Dubuffet.

- Mario Deluigi.

- Tancredi (Tancredi Parmeggiani).

- Cesare Oeverelli.

- Giuseppe Tarantino.

No title. Beniamino Joppolo.

Space man relationship. Guido Antoni.

Female form. Alberto Viani.

Spatialist manifests

The spatialists preferred to express the ideas of their artistic movement through various manifestos and other publications:

- White Manifesto, written by Lucio Fontana, Buenos Aires, 1946.

- First manifesto of spatialism, written by Beniamino Joppolo in 1947.

- Second manifesto of spatialism, written by Antonino Tullier in 1948.

- Proposal for a regulation of the spaziale movement.

- Manifesto tecnico dello spazialismo, by Lucio Fontana, 1951.

References

1. The spazialism of Lucio Fontana: Taglia sulla tela. Retrieved on April 10, 2018 from buongiornolatina.it
2. The spazialism e Fontana. Consulted of stilearte.it
3. Lucio Fontana. Consulted from speronewestwater.com
4. Spazialism. Consulted from settemuse.it
5. What is spatialism? Consulted from kunzt.gallery
6. Spatialism (1947-1968). Consulted from sites.google.com