Literature: Germano Celant: “Piero Manzoni - Catalogo generale”, Skira Editore, Milan 2004, cat. 901, ill. p. 528. Literature: Freddy Battino & Luca Palazzoli: “Piero Manzoni - Catalogue raisonné”, Vanni Scheiwiller, Milan 1991, n. 685, fig. 685, p. 363. Provenance: Galerie Köpcke, Copenhagen, Denmark. Exhibited here in 1961. Provenance: Galerie Hybler, Copenhagen Denmark. Acquired from the above immediately after the exhibition. Provenance: Private collection, Denmark / France. Acquired from the above in 1962.

In 1989 the work was submitted to Dr. Freddy Battino, Galleria Blu, Milan, by the present owner in connection with the preparation of the catalogue raisonné of Piero Manzoni's works. To the best of our knowlede the work has not been exhibited or offered for sale publicly on other occasions.

With Manzoni's stay in Herning and Copenhagen in 1960–1961, one of the 1960s’ most important and most radical avant-garde artists in the world became part of Danish art history. At the same time Herning and Copenhagen was given a prominent place in Piero Manzoni's personal biography as a place of origin and setting for some of his most iconic works, happenings and showdown with firmly-defined, historical definitions of the essence of art. A showdown – or a dialectic – which, on the one hand is canonized history, on the other hand continues to raise so fundamental questions about the nature of art and aesthetics that Piero Manzoni's oeuvre will probably always be considered a vibrant and ground-breaking contribution to the debate.

Piero Manzoni's relationship with Denmark is primarily due to three people: Firstly, the gallerist named Arthur (Addi) Köpcke who ran a gallery in Copenhagen in the period between 1958 and 1963, and exhibited works by Piero Manzoni in June-July of 1960 and October of 1961. Secondly, Aage Damgaard, who from the 1950s in a highly progressive way integrated art and artists into his company. And thirdly, the artist Paul Gadegaard, who was permanently employed by Aage Damgaard to completely decorate the Angli factory in Herning and came to establish the contact between the young avant-garde artist from Italy and the visionary patron of the arts from Jutland.

Piero Manzoni exhibited at Galerie Köpcke in Copenhagen in June 1960, showing inflatable sculptures (“Corpi d'Aria”), white monochromatic paintings (“Achrome”), sealed lines in containers (“Linea”) and eggs with the artist's fingerprints (“Uova Sculptura”). In a letter at the time, he reflected on his experiences and surprising new connection to Herning: “(...) In Copenhagen I enjoyed a success that astonished me. The gallery was full, there were articles in all the papers spread over 3–4 columns from the top of the page to the bottom, etc. Incredibly I was hired by a shirt factory (room and board, plus Lit. 11,000 a day and an assistant with a car) for a month, with all the technicians of the factory at my service, so that I could pursue all the technical/artistic research that I liked (...) ”(Celant, p. 652).

Because of this, the artist could, after the exhibition at Galerie Köpcke, continue to Herning, where he spent the month of July creating his subsequently famous 7,200-meter-long line (“Linea”) and in general experimented with all the materials that the textile factory could offer him – materials including synthetic and natural fibres. After another exhibition at Köpcke in Copenhagen in October 1961, where the famous cans of faeces (“Merda d'Artista”) among other works of art were presented to a Danish audience, Manzoni returned to Herning: “(...) This period resulted in the 'hairy canvases', as Manzoni called the 'Achromes' that had natural and synthetic fibres attached to the material, such as nylon, the lord and master of textile production in these years”(Celant, p. 655).