The Early Life of Lucio Fontana To understand the radical shifts in mid-century abstraction, one must look back to the specific origins of Lucio Fontana. Born on 19 February 1899 in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, his identity was forged at the intersection of two worlds. He was an Argentine-born Italian sculptor, painter, and theorist, a distinction that provided him with a dual perspective on form and space from his very beginning. Th…