The sculpture, also known as "Waiting athlete", on display in France
The Olympic Champion by Fontana is now "leaving"
Campione olimpionico (Atleta in attesa), Lucio Fontana, 1931-32
E. Bramati
12/03/2014
Bologna - The sculpture of the Olympic Champion (Waiting athlete) created by Lucio Fontana between 1931 and 1932 will end his pause and leave for Paris. The work represents one of the most important elements in the Collection of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Bologna, which will lend it to the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. This extraordinary event comes on the occasion of a major Fontana retrospective curated by Fabrice Hergot, director of the museum, scheduled between April 25th and august 24th, 2014.
The blue plaster athlete is portrayed as seated on a rock and holding his left leg with his arms, while the right one is bended. It is one of the most significant sculptures of Fontana's 1930s figurative period. He himself chose it among many others to represent his production in the "Quadriennale d'Arte" in Rome in 1935.
The subject-matter is fencer Ciro Verratti, who won the team foil gold medal in the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Verretti commissioned three bronze copies of this sculpture, which the author did not sign, and gave them as a gift to each of his sons.
Besides the Campione Olimpico, the exhibition, will present the large diversity of his production, between abstraction and figuration, metaphysical quest and incarnation, utopia and kitsch, technological fascination and amorphous materials. Among the 200 works on display, least-known pieces will arrive for the first time in France and will be brought into confrontation with the renowned Spacial Concepts.
The blue plaster athlete is portrayed as seated on a rock and holding his left leg with his arms, while the right one is bended. It is one of the most significant sculptures of Fontana's 1930s figurative period. He himself chose it among many others to represent his production in the "Quadriennale d'Arte" in Rome in 1935.
The subject-matter is fencer Ciro Verratti, who won the team foil gold medal in the Berlin Olympics in 1936. Verretti commissioned three bronze copies of this sculpture, which the author did not sign, and gave them as a gift to each of his sons.
Besides the Campione Olimpico, the exhibition, will present the large diversity of his production, between abstraction and figuration, metaphysical quest and incarnation, utopia and kitsch, technological fascination and amorphous materials. Among the 200 works on display, least-known pieces will arrive for the first time in France and will be brought into confrontation with the renowned Spacial Concepts.
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