Achrome

circa 1962

Bread rolls and kaolin on panel

18 x 28 cm

In the glass box, a 3D painting presents six rounded objects arranged in a precise composition. These objects, dipped in kaolin, a type of white clay used to manufacture porcelain, present themselves as six objects that may suggest their original nature to the observer: small edible buns.

Yves Klein’s monochromes have had a very high impact on Piero Manzoni, who created his series of seventy Achrome as a direct answer to these, with the aim of creating a space devoid of all colour, metaphor or allusion. He starts by dipping canvases in kaolin, then lets his compositions evolve by assembling colourless materials, like white cotton wool, fibreglass, stone and bread.

A work from a series that wants to be free from any external reference and thus have a significant impact on contemporary artistic reflexion, Achrome by Piero Manzoni belongs to the Pinault Collection. It was first shown at the “Prima Materia”(“Raw Material”) exhibition at the Punta della Dogana.
Exhibitions