Lucio Fontana / Otto Hahn | Portrait d'Antonin Artaud

Lucio Fontana / Otto Hahn

Portrait d'Antonin Artaud (Deluxe Edition)

Paris, France: Le Soleil Noir, 1968

36.6 x 6.5 x 23.8 cm.

Edition of 80 [+ 10 AP] signed and numbered copies

The second of two Deluxe versions of Hahn's book (see previous posts). 

Here the book is contained in a wood and enamel book sculpture by Fontana, with four additional works: a copper die-cut plate, a steel die-cut plate, two Plexiglas die-cut plates. The work was originally sold for five hundred dollars. The current estimated value is about seven thousand Euros. 

"Fontana founded the Italian postwar movement Spazialismo, which aimed to bring art and science together. He is best known for groundbreaking work in which he slashed, cut, punctured, and bored into the surfaces of his paintings, drawings, prints, and sculptures in an attempt to transcend illusionistic representation.

These strategies can be seen in the "illustrations" Fontana contributed to a book by Otto Hahn about the iconoclastic French playwright, actor, poet, artist, and director Antonin Artaud (1896–1948). Through his theories about art and theater and his experiences with drug addiction and institutionalization, Artaud became a figure of tremendous interest among artists in the 1960s. To illustrate this book, Fontana created a set of punctured sheets of steel, brass, and plexiglass kept in a sculptural container."

- MoMA gallery label from Book/Shelf, March 26–July 7, 2008.