How Lucio Fontana's Slashed Canvases Changed Art History

Examining four decades of sculptures, ceramics, paintings, drawings, and environments made between 1931 and 1968,  On the Threshold shows that Fontana’s interest in making art a dynamic, immersive experience was present throughout his career, and that he found a variety of ways to express this concept. 

“Fontana radically expanded the picture plane into a third dimension. His groundbreaking approach represents a seismic moment for 20th- century art, transforming paintings, sculptures, and objects into new concepts of space and experimental environments,” said Max Hollein, Director of The Met. “A witness to the historical, cultural, and technological developments that defined the postwar period, his work reflects the influence of a wide range of styles from art history and an irreverence towards hierarchies and conventions.”

Born in Argentina to Italian immigrants, Fontana (1899–1968) was one of the first artists to embrace the idea that the creative act, rather than solely the resulting object, was a work of art. In his lifetime he exhibited with contemporary Abstract Expressionists, and his environment installations, three of which have been reconstructed for this exhibition, are seen as precursors to Environmental art. While much of contemporary art is experiential, Fontana's blending of sculpture with traditional, two-dimensional painting and elements of performative acts was revolutionary during his time, and his impact can still be seen today.

Lucio Fontana: On the Threshold was on view at the Met Breuer in Spring 2019.