58 - Piero Manzoni

Piero Manzoni Prova d'opera Around 1960 Glue and gesso 25.8 x 38.5 cm. Framed in plexiglass case. Designated '1960 studio di Piero Manzoni' and with the stamp of the Archivio Manzoni, by Giovanni and Gian Ruggero Manzoni, San Lorenzo, verso. - Traces of studio and minor traces of age. The present work is registered at the Fondazione Piero Manzoni, Milan. We would like to thank the Fondazione Piero Manzoni, Milan for their helpful support. Provenance Giovanni Manzoni Collection, San Lorenzo; private collection, Italy; Martinelli Gallery Collection, Lodi (2012); AAG Auctioneers, Amsterdam, 3 June 2018, lot 27; private collection, Netherlands Piero Manzoni is regarded as one of the most important artists of the Italian post-war period. Associated with the international ZERO movement, he developed a radical approach to art that was shaped in part by his encounter with Yves Klein’s monochromatic works. Aftter visiting Klein’s exhibition “Proposte monocrome, epoca blu” in Milan in 1957, Manzoni began his exploration of a new form of painting. By eliminating traditional pictorial elements, most notably color, Manzoni sought to move beyond the conventions of painting and free the artwork from subjective expression and representation. Prova d’opera from around 1960 belongs to this broader artistic investigation. Here, Manzoni moved away from the conventional use of paint as a means of artistic expression, focusing instead on the physical qualities of materials themselves. He soaked canvas in kaolin, a fine white clay, mixed with glue, and folded, pleated or crumpled the fabric before allowing it to dry and stiffen. Through this process, the material became central to the work rather than serving merely as support. Manzoni’s practice can be situated within the broader development of post-war abstraction, in dialogue with artists who challenged conventional notions of painting and explored white and neutral surfaces. His work may be considered in relation to Robert Rauschenberg’s “White Paintings” of 1951, as well as the material explorations of Lucio Fontana and Alberto Burri.