The exhibition catalog sets out to look at the factors linking the creative lives of two great 20th-century artists, Yves Klein and Lucio Fontana - as well as following their individual careers - between 1957 and 1962.
In January 1957 Yves Klein held his first public exhibition of monochrome works from the ‘Blue Epoch’ at the Apollinaire Gallery in Milan (‘Proposition Monochrome’) with a presentation by Pierre Restany. On this occasion, Lucio Fontana was one of the first to purchase a monochrome by the French artist. In the five years that followed (until Klein’s death) the careers of the two men coincided several times in Milan and in Paris. Some of the most significant moments in their relationship include Klein’s dealings with gallery owners and other friends of Fontana’s; a joint project for the 12th Milan Triennale in 1960; the role of Iris Clert who, as well as presenting many of Klein’s exhibitions, in 1960, presented Fontana’s Nature paintings in her gallery in Paris; Klein’s many journeys to Italy and Fontana’s sojourns in Paris.
The careers of the two artists form a continuous dialog in a journey which, based on faithful biographical, historical and philological reconstruction (also documented by material from archives), compares their most important works, juxtaposing themes and visual aspects of their work, in specially designed solutions for exhibitions.