Battle

Private collection.

Ceramics, glaze.

Lucio Fontana began his creative career as a sculptor and continued, in parallel with painting, to engage in sculpture until the end of his career. A series of his ceramic works of 1946-1948 after the war is dedicated to battles and warriors, which might be his reaction to the just-ended World War II. Unlike the characters of his early realistic works, the figures of warriors have fuzzy, semi-abstract outlines. Like wax candles fused with flame, images of people and horses merge in a single whirlpool, reliably conveying the dynamics of the battle, when it is difficult to distinguish opponents from each other in the heat of battle. In terms of emotion, these sculptures are close to the spirit of Baroque.