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Lot Essay
One of an extremely rare and important group of ten early 'Mirror Paintings' that effectively launched Pistoletto's career when they were exhibited at the Galerie Ileana Sonnabend in Paris in March 1964, Michelangelo Pistoletto's Busto d'uomo di spalle (Bust of a man seen from behind) of 1963 is one of the very first of this radical, groundbreaking and career-defining series of works. First inaugurated in 1962, it is the 'Mirror Paintings' - the extensive and ongoing series of 'open works' that have run, as Pistoletto has said, 'like a golden thread' throughout his entire career - that continue to inform and define much of his creative aesthetic today.
The very first mirror paintings that Pistoletto made were exhibited together for the first time at the Galleria Galatea in Turin in April 1963 where they initially garnered little enthusiasm or critical acclaim. It was only after a near-chance encounter with Michael and Illeana Sonnabend in Paris that these works came to secure Pistoletto's international reputation and launched him in the United States and Europe as a leading exponent of the Italian avant-garde. For it was after meeting Pistoletto in Paris that the Sonnabends came to visit Turin and impressed by what they saw acquired the entire Galleria Galatea exhibition of Mirror Paintings which they then opened to much acclaim and success at their own gallery in Paris in March 1964. Executed after the Galleria Galatea exhibition but before his show in Paris, Busto d'uomo di spalle was one of ten 'Mirror paintings' that Pistoletto exhibited at the Sonnabend exhibition in Paris. Of these ten works, one was acquired by Philip Johnson, one by the Menils, two remain in the Sonnabend's own collection and the whereabouts of three others remain unknown.
'The Sonnabends were 'struck by the work' Pistoletto recalled, of this radical turnaround in his fortunes 'and came to Turin where they bought up the whole Galatea show. They took over the contract with Tazzoli and a situation developed that was extremely important for me: from my isolation in Turin, I was catapulted into an international dimension.' (Michelangelo Pistoletto, in Germano Celant, Pistoletto, Florence, 1984, pp. 26-29). Indeed, soon after his Sonnabend exhibition, Pistoletto's work was exhibited at the Castelli Gallery in New York where he was immediately, and somewhat erroneously, understood to be an exponent of Italian Pop art, Nevertheless an important and fruitful axis of cultural exchange between New York and Turin was established that was to have a major influence on the art of both countries throughout much of the 1960s.
Marking the introduction of the viewer into the work of art as a living participant in the 'theatre' of painting, Pistoletto's 'Mirror Paintings' were works that had originally grown out of a series of self-portrait oils that the artist made between 1960 and 1961. These works had explored the relationship of a lone central figure to its background and had in turn been inspired by the existential portraits of lone male figures set against a painterly void made by Francis Bacon in the 1950s.
In a moment of revelation in 1961, while attempting to paint his own face against a highly varnished flat monochrome background, Pistoletto caught sight of his reflection in the varnish and realised how suddenly the potential to expand painting into life had been opened up for him. 'I realized', Pistoletto later recalled, 'that someone like Pollock, although he attempted to transfer life onto canvas through action', had not succeeded ' in taking possession of the work, which continued to escape him, remaining autonomous, and that the presence of the human figure in the painting of Bacon (also) did not succeed in rendering a pathological vision of reality. I (then) understood that the moment had arrived to make the laws of objective reality enter the painting.' (Michelangelo Pistoletto, quoted in G. Celant, Identité Italienne, Paris, 1981, p. 81.)
Rather than the painted image of himself in the painting, Pistoletto now realised, the true protagonist of such a reflective work, was the introduction of real life, space and time into the imaginary plane of the canvas. The 'true protagonist' he later wrote, 'was the relationship of instantaneousness that was created between the spectator, his own reflection, and the painted figure, in an ever-present movement that concentrated the past and the figure in itself to such an extent as to cause one to call their very existence into doubt: it was the dimension of time itself'. (Michelangelo Pistoletto, Minus Objects, Galleria La Bertesca, Genoa 1966).
Busto d'uomo di spalle belongs among the very first of Pistoletto's paintings to be made on the purely reflective surface of polished steel that the artist made subsequent to this defining revelation for him and which established the template for all the Mirror Paintings that were to follow. Having experimented first using traditional glass mirrors, Pistoletto turned ultimately to polished steel because its flat reflective surface avoided the problems with a disturbing depth of surface that glass mirrors gave. Similarly, after originally attempting to paint directly onto the steel surface without success, Pistoletto arrived, as in this work, at a process of using life-size transfer drawings made from photographs on tissue paper that created a realistic looking physical image that appeared to be embedded within the flat reflective plane of the steel mirror.
The very first of these hand-drawn images derived from a series of staged photographs of himself and a small group of friends that Pistoletto had made for him in his father's conservation studio by the photographer Paolo Bressano. The majority of these original images were of seated figures seen either face on, from the side or, as here, with their back to the viewer seemingly gazing into the mysterious interactive space provided by the mirroring steel. The sitter in this work is Pistoletto's close friend Renato Rinaldi here photographed seated from behind. In such a work, in order view the 'picture' properly, the viewer (or the reflection of the viewer in the mirror) must become the apparent subject of the picture themselves as well as also, inadvertently, the apparent object of the Rinaldi's study.
The introduction of the mirror into his work, Pistoletto stated, 'changed how I perceived space. For me the mirror was not only an illusionistic pathway back through the wall, back into the space of the traditional perspective or even into the material cut of Fontana and the mysterious dark space behind the canvas. It suggested a double projection, in to the wall and out into the space of the viewer. In a way it integrated painting and sculpture. You could virtually walk in the space that was reflected in the painting...For centuries we have been projecting ourselves into the fictional space of painting. I thought it was time to have the space project out to us, to once again create space. '('Interview with Michael Auping', K. Burton, (ed.) Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mirror Paintings London, 2010, p. 67
The very first mirror paintings that Pistoletto made were exhibited together for the first time at the Galleria Galatea in Turin in April 1963 where they initially garnered little enthusiasm or critical acclaim. It was only after a near-chance encounter with Michael and Illeana Sonnabend in Paris that these works came to secure Pistoletto's international reputation and launched him in the United States and Europe as a leading exponent of the Italian avant-garde. For it was after meeting Pistoletto in Paris that the Sonnabends came to visit Turin and impressed by what they saw acquired the entire Galleria Galatea exhibition of Mirror Paintings which they then opened to much acclaim and success at their own gallery in Paris in March 1964. Executed after the Galleria Galatea exhibition but before his show in Paris, Busto d'uomo di spalle was one of ten 'Mirror paintings' that Pistoletto exhibited at the Sonnabend exhibition in Paris. Of these ten works, one was acquired by Philip Johnson, one by the Menils, two remain in the Sonnabend's own collection and the whereabouts of three others remain unknown.
'The Sonnabends were 'struck by the work' Pistoletto recalled, of this radical turnaround in his fortunes 'and came to Turin where they bought up the whole Galatea show. They took over the contract with Tazzoli and a situation developed that was extremely important for me: from my isolation in Turin, I was catapulted into an international dimension.' (Michelangelo Pistoletto, in Germano Celant, Pistoletto, Florence, 1984, pp. 26-29). Indeed, soon after his Sonnabend exhibition, Pistoletto's work was exhibited at the Castelli Gallery in New York where he was immediately, and somewhat erroneously, understood to be an exponent of Italian Pop art, Nevertheless an important and fruitful axis of cultural exchange between New York and Turin was established that was to have a major influence on the art of both countries throughout much of the 1960s.
Marking the introduction of the viewer into the work of art as a living participant in the 'theatre' of painting, Pistoletto's 'Mirror Paintings' were works that had originally grown out of a series of self-portrait oils that the artist made between 1960 and 1961. These works had explored the relationship of a lone central figure to its background and had in turn been inspired by the existential portraits of lone male figures set against a painterly void made by Francis Bacon in the 1950s.
In a moment of revelation in 1961, while attempting to paint his own face against a highly varnished flat monochrome background, Pistoletto caught sight of his reflection in the varnish and realised how suddenly the potential to expand painting into life had been opened up for him. 'I realized', Pistoletto later recalled, 'that someone like Pollock, although he attempted to transfer life onto canvas through action', had not succeeded ' in taking possession of the work, which continued to escape him, remaining autonomous, and that the presence of the human figure in the painting of Bacon (also) did not succeed in rendering a pathological vision of reality. I (then) understood that the moment had arrived to make the laws of objective reality enter the painting.' (Michelangelo Pistoletto, quoted in G. Celant, Identité Italienne, Paris, 1981, p. 81.)
Rather than the painted image of himself in the painting, Pistoletto now realised, the true protagonist of such a reflective work, was the introduction of real life, space and time into the imaginary plane of the canvas. The 'true protagonist' he later wrote, 'was the relationship of instantaneousness that was created between the spectator, his own reflection, and the painted figure, in an ever-present movement that concentrated the past and the figure in itself to such an extent as to cause one to call their very existence into doubt: it was the dimension of time itself'. (Michelangelo Pistoletto, Minus Objects, Galleria La Bertesca, Genoa 1966).
Busto d'uomo di spalle belongs among the very first of Pistoletto's paintings to be made on the purely reflective surface of polished steel that the artist made subsequent to this defining revelation for him and which established the template for all the Mirror Paintings that were to follow. Having experimented first using traditional glass mirrors, Pistoletto turned ultimately to polished steel because its flat reflective surface avoided the problems with a disturbing depth of surface that glass mirrors gave. Similarly, after originally attempting to paint directly onto the steel surface without success, Pistoletto arrived, as in this work, at a process of using life-size transfer drawings made from photographs on tissue paper that created a realistic looking physical image that appeared to be embedded within the flat reflective plane of the steel mirror.
The very first of these hand-drawn images derived from a series of staged photographs of himself and a small group of friends that Pistoletto had made for him in his father's conservation studio by the photographer Paolo Bressano. The majority of these original images were of seated figures seen either face on, from the side or, as here, with their back to the viewer seemingly gazing into the mysterious interactive space provided by the mirroring steel. The sitter in this work is Pistoletto's close friend Renato Rinaldi here photographed seated from behind. In such a work, in order view the 'picture' properly, the viewer (or the reflection of the viewer in the mirror) must become the apparent subject of the picture themselves as well as also, inadvertently, the apparent object of the Rinaldi's study.
The introduction of the mirror into his work, Pistoletto stated, 'changed how I perceived space. For me the mirror was not only an illusionistic pathway back through the wall, back into the space of the traditional perspective or even into the material cut of Fontana and the mysterious dark space behind the canvas. It suggested a double projection, in to the wall and out into the space of the viewer. In a way it integrated painting and sculpture. You could virtually walk in the space that was reflected in the painting...For centuries we have been projecting ourselves into the fictional space of painting. I thought it was time to have the space project out to us, to once again create space. '('Interview with Michael Auping', K. Burton, (ed.) Michelangelo Pistoletto, Mirror Paintings London, 2010, p. 67