581 - Agostino Bonalumi (1935, Vimercate – Desio, 2013)

Agostino Bonalumi (1935, Vimercate – Desio, 2013) Rosso Vinyl tempera on stretched canvas. (19)83. Approx. 95 x 75 cm. Signed, dated, and labeled with technical details on the reverse of the canvas. Bonalumi-Meneguzzo 1026. Accompanied by a photographic expert report from the Archivio Bonalumi, Milan. The work is registered in the archive under number 83-044. • Agostino Bonalumi is one of the most innovative Italian artists of the 20th century and a leading figure of the Milanese avant-garde • A visually complex, captivating monochrome work in red • A minimalistically austere pictorial object by the inventor of “pittura-oggetto” Within the milieu of the Milanese Galleria Azimut, founded in 1959 by Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani, Agostino Bonalumi developed a new conception of painting. Following in the footsteps of Lucio Fontana, he broke away from the two-dimensional picture plane and created his so-called “pittura-oggetto”—painting-objects—whose canvases are sculpturally shaped by underlying structures. The monochromatic color scheme enhances the interplay of light and shadow. In the 1970s and 1980s, geometric order and rhythmic repetition became increasingly significant in Bonalumi’s work. The 1983 work “Rosso” illustrates this development particularly clearly. Elevations running almost parallel to one another emerge from the intensely red canvas. Their varying lengths and slight shifts disrupt the strict order and lend the composition a lively rhythm. The incident light casts subtle shadows and makes the surface appear in shifting gradations. Using just a few precisely applied elements, Bonalumi thus achieves a remarkable spatial effect. Provenance: Private collection, Italy. Taxation: subject to differential taxation (VAT: Margin Scheme).