Reconsidering Italian art in the wake of Art Informel painting that prevailed in the 1950s, Postwar: Italian Protagonists presents the work of five pioneering artists: Lucio Fontana (1899–1968), Piero Dorazio (1927–2005), Enrico Castellani (b. 1930), Paolo Scheggi (1940–1971) and Rodolfo Aricò (1930–2002). These “protagonists” brought the Italian art scene to an international public with a new painting that used the power of color and the iconography of the monochrome as defining visual and conceptual elements. The exhibition is organized chronologically, showcasing the artists’ experimentation at a critical moment in their practice during the ’60s and ’70s, when the latter four departed from the work of Lucio Fontana and developed a personal language.

Lucio Fontana, Spatial Concept (Concetto spaziale), 1951. Oil on canvas, 85.1 × 66 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Hannelore B. and Rudolph B. Schulhof Collection, bequest of Hannelore B. Schulhof, 2012.56. © Fondazione Lucio Fontana, Milano, by SIAE 2012