12 Linee.

Milan.: Azimut., 1959.. Original publisher's printed pictorial wrappers stapled as issued, front cover in red with 'MANZONI' in white over an image of his 'Linee' containers, matching image to rear cover with exhibition details and measurements in black.. Small 4to. (240 x 170 mm).. Printed text by Vincenzo Agnetti 'Piero Manzoni: Les Lignes' in French to front cover verso, leaf with English version of the same text 'Piero Manzoni: The Lines' to following recto, verso and following leaf with Agnetti's text in Italian 'Piero Manzoni: Le Linee' as a spread printed in red with drawing after Manzoni above, verso and following leaf with Manzoni's biography in Italian (with illustration of Manzoni's face above one of his lines in black), French and English. An excellent copy of Piero Manzoni's very rare '12 Linee' catalogue for his exhibition at Azimut in Milan in 1959.'12 Linee' was held at Azimut in Milan's via Clerici from December 4th to December 24th, 1959. Manzoni had begun to execute his 'Linee' earlier in the same year, using a roller, brush or other method to make a continuous line on a scroll of paper. The scroll, its details noted, would then be rolled up and placed in a cylinder which was then sealed before labelling with the length of the line, the date of creation and the artist's signature (some also featured an external representation, a sample, of the content). The cylinders were not to be opened but were to be displayed and purchased as found.'For Manzoni, a painting has to be, first and foremost an act of giving, a wonderful charge, and that's all. All boiled down to pure art ... his pictorial sense has completely disappeared [sic] - as a matter of fact, they are endlessly long, interminable lines ... Traced on strips of paper and then rolled up, these lines are inserted into tubes, suitably coloured and sealed, and the length of each is marked on the container, but it refers to the title rather than the actual lenght [sic] ... In front of these works, all useless chatter concerning painting, transitions and beloved returns fades ... In each of these lines, predominant is the immediate and irresistible embrace of Kierkegaard's Eros ... a catharsis that geometrically repeats itself beyond the present and beyond useless expression.' (From Vincenzo Agnetti's 'Piero Manzoni: The Lines' in the catalogue).This catalogue is very scarce and we can locate only those copies at Bologna's Biblioteca delle Arti and Revereto's MART in Italy, at the Rijksmuseum, Stedelijk and the Institute for Art History in the Netherlands, the Bibliothèque Kandinsky in Paris and a copy at London's Tate; we can locate no copies in the US.[see Das Archiv Sohm pg. 64 for illustration of 'Linee'].