Oil on canvas. Signed and dated in the lower right. Signed, dated, numbered, and identified “2” on the reverse of the canvas. 99.5 x 79.8 cm.
- In the late 1950s, Dorazio moved from initially very sensual superimpositions of a multitude of intersecting lines to his later, more austere, complex, and vibrant color structures. - Color, light, and rhythmic structures are the central elements of his painting. - First exhibited as early as 1961 (Kunsthalle Düsseldorf). - Part of a private collection in Southern Germany for about 30 years.
This work is registered with the Archivio Piero Dorazio, Milan. We are grateful for their kind assistance in cataloging this lot.
LITERATURE: Marisa Volpi Orlandini, Jacques Lassaigne, and Giorgio Crisafi, Dorazio, Milan 1977, CR no. 244 (with the French title “Avant que les lacs soyent glaces”, incorrectly dated “1957,” and the black-and-white illustration mixed up with CR no. 281).

Piero Dorazio, Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Oct. 18-Nov. 26, 1961, cat. no. 38 (with full-page color illustration, under the alternative title “Ton désordre”). Piero Dorazio, Haus am Waldsee, Berlin, February 14-March 30, 1969, cat. no. 1. Der Maler Antonio Calderara. Freunde, Einflüsse, Anregungen, Kunsthalle Kiel, September 19-October 24, 1982, p. 64 (on the stretcher with the exhibition label). Energie - Hoffnung - Freude. Piero Dorazio, Kunstmuseum Altes Rathaus, Bayreuth, July 13-October 12, 2003

Galerie Springer, Berlin (with the gallery label bearing the German title “Bevor die Seen gefroren sind”) on the reverse. Private collection, Baden-Württemberg (acquired from the above in 2000)

Condition report on request katalogisierung@kettererkunst.de