Masterpieces by Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri and Thomas Schütte from a private European collection will feature at Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Art evening sale in London on March 6. The group will be led by Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, Attese (1965) which is estimated at £8-12 million. The two-metre long white canvas is cut with 24 of Fontana’s iconic vertical slashes, the greatest number he ever committed to a large-scale work. To add a further dimension to the painting Fontana enshrouded it in a highly reflective black lacquer.
Additional highlights include Alberto Burri’s Ferro T (1959) (£3-5 million) a patchwork forged from jagged panes of soldered metal, weathered using fire and the process of oxidation. This is from Burri’s celebrated series of 12 Ferri (‘Irons’), nine of which are housed in museum collections internationally. Thomas Schütte’s Bronzefrau Nr. 7 (2002) (£2-3 million) offers a powerful critique of monumental sculpture: created from bronze and Cor-Ten steel it both mines and undermines classical and Renaissance traditions. Dan Flavin, Anselm Kiefer and Gerhard Richter are also represented in the collection.