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Photographs: ITALIAN ICONS

Wednesday 18 June 2025, 04:00 PM • Milan

67

Ugo Mulas

(1928 - 1973)

Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, 1960s

Artist's Resale Right

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€ 4.500 - 5.500

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Information

Three vintage gelatin silver prints
cm 25 x 21 (cm 19 x 19) approx. each | 0.8 x 8.3 in. (7.5 x 7.5 in. picture) approx. each
Photographer's credit stamp on the verso of each
Framed
Ugo Mulas (Pozzolengo, Brescia 1928 - Milan 1973) frequented the Milanese artistic milieu around the Jamaica bar where he met Mario Dondero and began a career born of his many interests: reporter for L'illustrazione Italiana and set photographer for the Piccolo Teatro, documenting the Venice Biennale from 1954 to 1972 he became close with artists such as Alberto Burri, Lucio Fontana, Alik Cavaliere, and Fausto Melotti. Travels in the early 1960s to the U.S. from which came the volume “New York arte e persone” introduced him to Andy Warhol, Robert Raushenberg, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank. He participated in neo-avant-garde events directed by Luciano Caramel (Campo Urbano, Como 1969) and Paul Restany (Noveau Réalisme, Milan 1970). A deep consideration of the role of photography influenced by the theoretical contribution of Marcel Duchamp leads him to the metaphotographic work “Le verifiche” published in 1972 by Einaudi. His works, exhibited in museum spaces all over Europe, and his numerous monographs are curated by the Milan archive edited by his daughters Melina and Valentina. 

Ugo Mulas's long-standing relationship with Lucio Fontana allows the photographer a complicity with the artist that emerged in the famous 1964 sequence “L'attesa” with the cutting of the canvas. Here, however, the photographer shows that skill in reproducing works acquired through frequenting the studios of painters and sculptors. These three prints thus become an effective reference to the artistic work of the great master of Spatialism: one recognizes three famous spatial concepts from 1965 entitled “Teatrini” because they are composed of perforated monochrome canvases inserted into shaped frames that are integral parts of the works. The portrait made of Marcel Duchamp - published several times in major monographs - is part of a large series of shots made in New York outdoors in Washington Square, inside the Museum of Modern Art in front of his famous “Grande vetro” which he observes with distant detachment and, as in our case, in his home. It is Mulas himself who reminds us that he was interested in highlighting Duchamp's “attitudes of non-doing” and “highlighting his renunciation.” Thus, he catches him as, sitting in his famous armchair, he casts a glance at the photograph of him playing chess with a naked woman. For the record, it had been made in 1963 at the Pasadena Museum of Art, L.A., where Walter Hopps had curated the artist's first American retrospective. The author of the image, Julian Wasser, asked 20-year-old friend Eva Babliz during the opening to pose nude in homage to Duchamp's provocative art, which she, the daughter of an artist, did with enthusiasm.

Condition report

To request a Condition Report, please contact fotografia@finarte.it The department will provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Please note that what Finarte declares with respect to the state of conservation of the objects corresponds only to a qualified opinion and that we are not professional conservators or restorers. We urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. We always suggest prospective buyers to inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition during the exhibition days as indicated in the catalog.

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