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Gianni Monnet seems to have fallen through the cracks of art history, which is sad in all sorts of ways. Of all the artists of MAC, the Movimento Arte Concreta, which lasted from 1948 to 1958, Gianni Monnet seems to have been the joker in the pack. His original works contributed to Documenti d'arte d'oggi, the movement's four-volume journal, are almost uncategorisable, so intent was Monnet on sticking on various bits of material, ranging from furry purple felt to sandpaper to corrugated card. I've already posted here about an instance in which a lithograph had holes hand-punched through it, a piece of scrumpled newspaper collaged to it, and sandpaper and corrugated card fixed to the facing page in order to make visible impressions on the surface of the litho. Surface and the rupturing of the surface; texture and the effects of texture on the untextured surface; these seem to have been his obsessions. Gianni Monnet Untitled lithograph, 1955 Gianni Monnet Untitled lithogr

Enrico Bordoni was born in Altare in 1904. Enrico Bordoni (1904-1969) A professor at the Accademia Brera in Milan, Enrico Bordoni was a member of the abstract art group MAC, Movimento Arte Concreta, which flourished from 1948-1958. Enrico Bordoni Untitled lithograph, 1949 Enrico Bordoni Untitled lithograph, 1949 Enrico Bordoni Untitled lithograph, 1951 Enrico Bordoni Untitled woodcut, 1955 Bordoni was one of the most prolific contributors to MAC's publication Documenti d'arte d'oggi. His original silkscreens, woodcuts and lithographs show a powerful and highly-alert sense of rhythm, and their gestural authority and boldly vibrant use of colour link this non-figurative Italian "concrete art" movement with the contemporary Abstract Expressionism of the USA. Enrico Bordoni Untitled lithograph, c. 1950 Enrico Bordoni Untitled lithograph, c. 1950 Enrico Bordoni Untitled lithograph, 1949 Enrico Bordoni Untitled lithograph, c. 1950 Enrico Bordoni Untitled lithograph, c.

Lucio Fontana was born in Argentina in 1899. Now renowned as the founder of the Spazialismo movement (Spatialism), he was a member of Abstraction-Cr�ation in the 1930s, and in the 1950s he was also closely involved in the Italian abstract movement MAC, the Movimento Arte Concreta. Lucio Fontana, Untitled lithograph, 1955 Lucio Fontana, Untitled lithograph, 1955 The two Fontana lithographs above both date from 1955, and are printed on very thin paper, the first on green, the second on orange. They have both been randomly punctured with many small holes, in accordance with Fontana's practice at this period, and his ongoing concern with disrupting the picture plane. His paintings of this date, which are also punctured with holes rather than slashed with cuts (for which he is perhaps more famous), were called Buchi, Holes. Lucio Fontana Untitled lithograph, 1958 Apparently Fontana came to find MAC's theoretical rejection of figuration an arid dead-end, leading too many of its artis

Augusto (or Avgust) Cernigoj was born in Trieste in 1898, of Slovenian parentage. He studied at the Fine Art Academy of Bologna, and also at the Bauhaus, where he was the only Italian student. Augusto Cernigoj worked as a teacher at the Slovenian school in Trieste. The two works below were contributed to Documenti d'arte d'oggi, the journal of the Movimento Arte Concreta, in 1958. By happenstance, my copies have been hand-signed by Cernigoj in pen at the bottom right. Usual copies are unsigned. Augusto Cernigoj Untitled woodcut, 1958 Augusto Cernigoj Untitled lithograph, 1958 The influence of Hans Arp can be seen in the lithograph, which is a very successful and balanced composition, in my view. Although he was a well-respected artist, the art of Cernigoj has only been truly appreciated after his death in 1985. More than 1400 pieces are gathered in the Galleria di Avgust Cernigoj in Lipizza.

The long-lived artist and art critic Gillo Dorfles was born in Trieste in 1910, and in 2013 was still able to be actively involved in designing the Tibetan Pavilion for the 55th Venice Biennale. Gillo Dorfles His chief period as an active artist spanned essentially the life of the influential abstract movement he co-founded, MAC, the Movimento Arte Concreta. MAC was founded by Gillo Dorfles, Atanasio Soldati, Bruno Munari, and Gianni Monnet in 1948, and disbanded in 1958 after the premature death of Monnet. Writing in the New York Times in 1955, when Dorfles was showing a group of monotypes at the Wittenborn Gallery, D. Ashton notes that, "In most of his prints, the emphasis is on a personal calligraphy that can be read for meaning, like handwriting. . . At times the rhythmic interplay of line resembles the intricate symbolic designs on ancient oriental bronzes. In his delicacy of color and the emphasis on integral rhythms, Dorfles achieves a lyrical quality." These comments

Bruno Munari, about whom there is a very interesting article here relating to a 2002 exhibition at the Milan Dobe� Museum, was one of the four founders of MAC, the Movimento Arte Concreta, an Italian abstract art movement that flourished from 1948-1958. Born in Milan in 1907, Munari enjoyed a long career of restless creativity. In the late 1920s and the 1930s Bruno Munari was a member of Marinetti's Futurist movement, from which he disassociated himself after WWII, because of Futurism's links with fascism. Bruno Munari was a pioneer of installation art, mobile and kinetic art, photocopy art and all kinds of inventive creations such as his useless machines and unreadable books. Among his most charming creations are his "sculture da viaggio" - portable sculptures cut out of card that can be folded for travel. One of these was included in the final publication of MAC/Espace, the 1958 volume of Documenti d'arte d'oggi. Beautifully simple, and simply beautiful. Bru

Concrete Art is a term applied to various abstract art movements. The term was coined by Theo van Doesburg in his 1930 Manifesto of Concrete Art. Van Doesburg's insistence that art should be formed from the "concrete" elements of form and colour without reference to the physical world was championed by the Swiss artist Max Bill, a former student of Josef Albers and Wassily Kandinsky at the Bauhaus. In the late 1940s and the 1950s two groups influenced by Bill flourished in France and Italy: Groupe Espace and MAC, the Movimento Arte Concreta. The two groups exhibited in combination in Italy as Gruppo Espace. Poster for the 1954-1955 Gruppo Espace exhibition in Milan, and the verso with woodcuts by Enrico Bordoni (1904-1969) and Silvano Bozzolini (1911-1998) MAC was formed in 1948 by four Italian artists: Atanasio Soldati, Gillo Dorfles, Bruno Munari, and Gianni Monnet. It disbanded in 1958, following the premature death of Gianni Monnet at the age of 46.   Besides collecti