Artists portfolio: Agostino Bonalumi, the sculptor of the canvas

The era of the "Gesture" definitive by Lucio Fontana and the continuous search for new languages expressive. In that ideal gym where they came to terms with the past and an important piece was builtof Italian culture postwar. In Enrico's study Baj know Piero Manzoni who becomes the partner companion of many raids artistic. “We did more than paint some sneers,” he recallsva amused Bonalumi. Just think yes they first met on the roof a terrace of a garage where Baj he was preparing his great nuclear canvases before refining them in the studio. “We held up the edges of the frame while he threw bucketfuls into it of 'heavy water'. A mixture of water and glazes of various colors mixed vigorously with a stick.” For the two young hotheads, “the revolutionaries,” as he called them Baj, a season of raids begins, di performances, which also stir the most swampy artistic environment Milanese. From the taxi exhibition, with small works displayed in the cars of some complacent chauffeurs, to the drawing of two kilometers: sheets of paper spread along the sidewalks of Brera “painted” by the footsteps of passers-by. Many turn up their noses, but there is also who notices and appreciate. Among these Lucio Fontana, the father of Spatialism,what with its gash on the canvas has definitively broken with the past. The model to which, more or less consciously, the young are inspired artistic avant-garde, not onlyMilanese. The two begin dating the studio of the master who had them taken a liking to. And little by little sympathy turns “into esteem and warm friendship.

The couple becomes a trio upon arrival by Enrico Castellani, another hot head, which he had been observing for a while with pay attention to their “grievances”. Together they design a magazine that should call each other Pragma. Months and months of discussions, quarrels, sleepless nights. Publication will never see the light, but the ideas that inspire it, of total break with the informal, come together in the “Azimuth” group which will give the name to the magazine given at prints in the spring of 1959. With the group, for the "trio" comes also the first real exhibition: in 1958, at the Pater Gallery in Milan. But it is precisely around 1959 that the association is interrupted and each take his way. Going back to that di We find Agostino Bonalumi in the second half of the s qforty at grappled with figurative art. It did portraits, landscapes, with skilful craftsmanship and quite successfully in the circle of his admirers. His first self-portrait is from 1946, when he had just 11 years old. “I have some self-portraits get at least a hundred,” he confessesva amused. Then he moved to the informal up to come to abstraction. “But everything it didn't last very long. To color,smear the canvas. Put on and take off color until the stain arrives to titillate the sensitivity of the observer it wasn't my thing. She didn't come back in mi.e. artist ambitions”.

Bonalumi wanted to go further and the opportunity comes with the exhibition at the Pater Gallery where he exhibits a complete outfit, masculine and feminine, from linen intimate to shoes, applied on two canvases “smeared with colour”. Then move on to concrete realizing surfaces from which they projected into forward iron pipes, taps and others metallic objects. After that the pipes disappear and flowers appear, grass, straw, bundles of wood, branches of tree. Some of these jobs are cconserved in the Bank's collectionCommercial, Understanding today St. Paul (Galleries of Italy). It is towards the end of 1959 that they are born the first everted canvases. I am still marked by a taste for matter, painted with a cement mixture and color that make it rough surface. But the road is taken. The road that will take him slowly piano to become a "skilful architect of fabrics”, as Ennio defined it Brion, great collector and friend of the Master. If Fontana rips the canvas for free art and make it twirl in the space, Bonalumi pushes it upwards, to infinity. Not both though intend the canvas as a support,as a place of representation, but as the surface from which it emerges and the shape is structured.

In the works of Bonalumi the surface of the canvas comes modeled thanks to a systemof wooden supports (or more recently metallic) below. A game between sensitivity and abstraction, organic and geometric, enriched by drafting uniform and almost always monochrome of the color. “Agostino Bonalumi – explains the critic Marco mean That. Together with Fabrizio Bonalumi, he edited the monumental General Catalog of the Maestro - he belongs to that generation that took a lot from Lucio Fontana, but which managed to give a sense of space in an absolutely modern way, just like his two friends had done and associates, Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani, while each maintaining its own and well recognizable expressive figure. Bonalumi – continue mean – he found the key to giving an image of art closely adhering to the society that was forming, finally opening up to true modernity, continuing to experiment until the end of his days”. In his work they changed often also the techniques and the materials. "If the technique varies it means that even the problems have changed;means and ways are not indifferent than the target".

Works by Agostino Bonalumi are present in prestigious collections public and private around the world. He has exhibited at the Venice Biennale and of São Paulo of Brazil (1966), at the Paris Biennale (1968). In 1970 is present with a personal room at the Venice Biennale, where he will return in 1986. The same year he was invited to the Rome Quadrennial.  In 1981 he participates with Dorazio, wheel and Santomaso to the exhibition "Italian Discover African fourContemporary Directions"The Museum of Art of Fort Lauderdale Florida. In 2001 he was awarded the President of the Republic Award and a personal exhibition is set upat the National Academy of San Luca in Rome. From the same year is the presentation, in the context of the “Themes and Variations” project for the Guggenheim Museum from Venice, of some historical works e of the imposing White environment. In November 2003 on the occasion of the Semester of the Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union has participated in the exhibition “Future Italiano” set up in the halls of the European Parliament in Brussels. In 2004 l 'Teaching Mathildenhoe di Darmstadt dedicated a large one to him anthology, with works from 1959 the 2003.

Bonalumi was one of the protagonists of "Visions" the great exhibition international made in 2005 with the patronage of Italcementi in former church of Sant'Agostino in Bergamo. In 2006 he was named artist of the year from the city of Cortina. Loyalty to a personal conception never betrayed along the various moments of the research runs along the guidelines of the whole Augustine's artistic experience Bonalumi. From 13 July to 30 September 2018, Palazzo Reale in Milan hosts the premiere real big anthology in his city by Title Bonalumi 1958 – 2013. Curated by Marco mean. At the same time ilMuseo del Novecento dedicate a focus to the Master"Space, environment, project”, on a not well-known aspect of his research, the one that between 1967 and the end of the XNUMXs led him to conceive, design and create environmental works, often of considerable size.

Agostino Bonalumi  ( vimercate 1935 – Monza 2013 )

After completing studi of technical and mechanical drawing (of which he was proud), he held his first personal exhibition in 1956 at the Galleria Totti in Milan. In 1958 the Bonalumi Castellani and Manzoni group was born with an exhibition at the Galleria Pater in Milan, which was followed by other exhibitions in Rome, Milan and Lausanne. In 1961 at the Gallery Kasper of Lausanne is one of the founders of the “New European School” group. Arthur Black he bought his works and in 1965 presented a personal exhibition of Bonalumi in his gallery in Milan, with presentation in the catalog by Gillo dorfles. In 1966 he began a long period of collaboration with the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan which will represent him exclusively, publishing in 1973 for Edizioni del Naviglio an extensive monograph edited by Gillo dorfles. In 1966 he was invited to the Venice Biennale with a group of works, and in 1970 with a personal room. He follows a period of study and work in Mediterranean African countries and in the United States where he will present himself with a solo show at the Bonino gallery in New York. In 1967 he was invited to the Biennale of Are Paulo and in 1968 at the Paris Youth Biennial.

He has created environmental-painting works such as, in 1967, “Blu Abitabile” for the exhibition “Lo Spazio dell'Immagine” in Foligno; in 1968 “Grande Nero”, for a personal exhibition at Museum am Ostwall of Dortmund; in 1979, as part of the exhibition, curated by Francesca Alinovi and Renato Barilli, "Pittura Ambiente" at Palazzo Reale in Milan, the work "Dal giallo al bianco e dal bianco al giallo", where the environment considered as a human activity is analyzed as a primary activity, i.e. psychological, as well as in “Ambiente Bianco – Retained space and invaded space”, created in 2002 for the Guggenheim Foundation in Venice.

In 1980, curated by the Lombardy Region, it was set up in Palazzo Te in Mantua, with the care of Flavio Caroli and Gillo dorfles, an extensive review that illustrates the entire span of his oeuvre. The National Academy of San Luca awarded Agostino Bonalumi with the 2001 “Presidential Award” for sculpture. On this occasion, a retrospective exhibition of the artist is presented in the halls of the Academy, accompanied by a monograph edited by Achille Perilli.

He was involved in scenography, creating in 1970 for the Roman Theater of Verona scenes and costumes for the ballet "Partita", music by Goffredo Petrassi, choreography by Susanna Egri; and in 1972 for the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome the sets and costumes of "Red”, music by Dominic Guaccero, choreography by Amedeo Love.

He has created artist books for Edizioni Colophon, Belluno and for Edizioni Il Bulino, Rome and has published collections of poems for the same Colophon, for Book Editore and for Edizioni PoliArt. Despite an illness he has been living with for some time now, Bonalumi continues and works diligently developing his research up to the results of recent years. He also completes the creation of a cycle of bronze sculptures on projects dating back to the end of the 60s.

Brussels, Moscow, New York, Singapore are some of the world capitals that host his personal exhibitions in the last period of activity. In the summer of 2013 he enthusiastically collaborates in the creation of one of his important exhibitions in London which, unfortunately, he will not get to see the opening. Agostino Bonalumi died in Monza on 18 September 2013. Only a week earlier he was at work in the place where he felt best in the world: his office.

From 13 July to 30 September 2018, Palazzo Reale in Milan hosts the first anthology in its city by Title Bonalumi 1958 – 2013. Edited by Mark mean. At the same time il Museo del Novecento dedicated un focus to the Master"Space, environment, project”, su a not well-known aspect of his research, the one that between 1967 and the end of the seventies led him to conceive, design and create environmental works, often of considerable size.

Market: The peak was reached in 2014-2015 with record quotations in auctions and international fairs. Subsequently (as also happened for other great Italian masters) a pause for reflection began with a healthy consolidation of the quotations which however, in recent months, have regained a tonic and constant vigor. Over 1500 of his works, of various types, went to auction with a percentage of sold around 70% and a turnover (only in auctions) that in 2017 came close to 4 million euros. According to the index Artprice, 100 euros invested in a work by Bonalumi in 2000 are now worth over 1.100 euros.

Gallery: Its reference gallery is Mazzoleni with offices in Turin and London but his works comeare also sold by prestigious Italian and international galleries.

Pricing: for historical works (60s and early 70s) it starts from over 100 euros up to over 500 euros. For more recent works (from 2000 onwards) it ranges from around 50-70 thousand to over 200 thousand euros. The refined "papers" produced by Maestro can be purchased with an investment starting from 8-10 thousand up to over 20 thousand euros, depending on the period, technique and size.

Top price at auction:  "White” 1966, vinyl tempera on estrofl canvasit 121 x 196 x 26 cm. it was beaten da Sotheby's  in London, in October 2014, at 783.814 euros (including fees) more than double the estimate. The following year always from Sotheby's "Blue” 1967, vinyl tempera on shaped canvas 185 x168 x 25 cm. did stop the marello of the auctioneer at 523.399 (always with rights). In 2016, this time from Christie's London, "White Environment”1967 acrylic on stretched canvas 289,5 x 419 x 31 cm changed hands for 472.715 euros (rights included)