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Ciò che non ha limiti e che per la sua stessa natura non ammette limitazioni di sorta, 1968
GPE-0003
What Does Not Have Limits and What of Its Own Nature Does Not Allow Limitations of Any Kind
Letterpress
Book 24.4 x 17.6 x 25.5 cm close, 24 x 36 cm open
Signed and dated on the last page of the book: “Giulio Paolini / 1968”
Numbering stamped (50 in Arabic numerals) or autograph (6 Artist’s proofs and 10 ad personam in Roman numerals) on the last page of the book
50 in Arabic numerals from 1/50 to 50/50
6 artist’s proofs in Roman numerals from p.a. I/VI to p.a. VI/VI
10 ad personam in Roman numerals from I/X to X/X
Self-produced by the artist
Havana corrugated cardboard folder with flaps, blank, closed format 25 x 19 x 3 cm.
The bound volume, with a hard white cover and acetate dust jacket – copies in Arabic numerals and ad personam with handwritten title printed in black on the dust jacket; artist's proofs in Roman numerals with title handwritten in black ink on the front board of the cover – is made up of 174 unnumbered pages, without either a title-page or a colophon.
Impressed on the pages of the book, equidistantly, are the letters in the names, in alphabetical order, of the people who were listed in the artist's notebook at the time. The letters follow one another without interruption from one name to the next, so that only by reading them carefully can the individual names be identified. The title, which transcribes the noun “infinity” as defined in the dictionary, refers to the list of persons known to the artist who are prone to endless transformations that are constantly becoming over the course of time.
The multiple reformulates in other terms the theme developed in the painting made shortly before titled Titolo (1967-68, GPO-0147) and made up of two large sheets of blank paper – pinned to two primed canvases placed close together – on which the artist wrote the same names (the multiple features some small differences due to erasures or additions in the notebook). Just as in the large-scale work, in the multiple the author "verifies his existence as a subject: he qualifies his own identity via the extension of the names of the people that acknowledge it", as the author himself has said.1
1 G. Paolini in conversation with M. Disch (2001), in M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 147 p. 166.
| 1972 | Venice, Giardini di Castello, Padiglione Centrale, 36a Esposizione Biennale Internazionale d’arte di Venezia, 11 June - 1 October, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 26, not. repr., referred to in the text by D. Palazzoli p. 26. |
| 1972 | London, Nigel Greenwood Inc. Ltd., Book as Artwork 1960-1972, 20 September - 14 October, referred to in the text by G. Celant p. 17. |
| 1973-74 | Rome, Parcheggio di Villa Borghese, Contemporanea, 30 November 1973 - 28 February 1974, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 419, not. repr. |
| 1976 | Parma, Palazzo della Pilotta, Sala delle Scuderie, Giulio Paolini, 11 March - 21 April, repr. no. 94, referred to in the text by M. Fagiolo p. 31. |
| 1982 | Villeurbanne, Le Nouveau Musée, Giulio Paolini. Une introduction à l’œuvre de Giulio Paolini 1960/70. Artiste invité de l'année, 16 September - 31 October, no catalogue. |
| 1985 | Nice, Centre National d’Art Contemporain Villa Arson, L’Italie aujourd’hui. Aspects de la création italienne de 1970 à 1985 / Italia oggi. Aspetti della creatività italiana dal 1970 al 1985, 14 June - 14 October, repr. p. 105, referred to in the text by A. Lugli pp. 103-104. |
| 1989 | Turin, Salone del Libro, Impressions graphiques. Progetti e collaborazioni editoriali di Giulio Paolini, 12-18 May, cat. no. 1 (section “Edizioni a tiratura numerata”), repr. |
| 1992 | Bonn, Bonner Kunstverein, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das graphische Werk 1967-1992, 24 February - 29 March (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 3). |
| 1993 | Winterthur, Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das druckgraphische Werk 1967-1992, 16 January - 7 March (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 3). |
| 1995 | Limoges, Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, Théâtre du Centre Jean-Pierre Fabrègue, Bookmakers. Une exposition des livres d’artistes de Zona Archives, 2 June - 15 August, cited in the checklist of exhibited works n. pag., not repr. |
| 1995 | Lisbon, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian / Centro de Arte Moderna José de Azeredo Perdigão, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Múltiplos e Obra Gráfica 1969-1995, 16 March - 28 May, not repr. in the exhibition brochure (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 3). |
| 1996 | Turin, Galleria Martano, Artists’ Books, 8 May - 10 June, cited in the checklist of exhibited works n. pag., not repr. |
| 1996 | Apolda, Kunsthaus Apolda Avantgarde, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques, 27 September - 27 October (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 3). |
| 1997 | Göppingen, Kunsthalle, Giulio Paolini. Impressions graphiques. Das graphische Druckwerk 1967-1995, 9 March - 13 April (catalogue Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini [Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992], cat. no. 3). |
| 2001 | New York, Esso Gallery, Multipli 1967-2001. Multiples, editions and books by the Arte Povera Artists, 16 January - 3 March. |
| 2002 | Modena, Biblioteca civica d’arte Luigi Poletti, Giulio Paolini. Pagine, 20 September - 23 November, col. repr. pp. 20-21 (caption p. 91), referred to in the text by M. Bertoni p. 16. |
| 2003 | Milan, Fondazione Prada, Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, 30 October - 18 December, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 402, col. repr. pp. 264, 265. |
| 2004 | Mantua, Casa del Mantegna, Guardare Raccontare Pensare Conservare. Quattro percorsi del libro d’artista dagli anni Sessanta ad oggi, 2 September - 29 November, repr. p. 254. |
| 2006 | Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Libri Books Bücher, 29 April - 30 July, no catalogue. |
| 2006 | Rome, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Il libro come opera d’arte, 24 September - 19 November, col. repr. p. 110. |
| 2008 | Bologna, Fondazione del Monte di Bologna e Ravenna, Books! Dagli anni sessanta ad oggi. Libri d’artista dal fondo Liliana Dematteis in deposito al Mart di Trento e Rovereto, 17 September - 31 October, col. repr. p. 55, referred to in the text by M. Gazzotti p. 19. |
| 2008 | Turin, Giorgio Maffei, Arte Povera. Libri d’artista, multipli, fotografie, 14-23 December, no catalogue. |
| 2010 | Milan, Palazzo Reale, Libri d'artista dalla collezione Consolandi. 1919-2009, 24 March - 6 June, col. repr. p. 95; edition 34/50. |
| 2011 | Bologna, Aula Magna della Biblioteca Universitaria, Libro / Opera. Viaggio nelle pagine d'artista. La collezione di Danilo Montanari, 16 September - 12 October, col. repr. p. 144, statement by the artist p 45. |
| 2019 | Turin, Noire Gallery, Giulio Paolini. Promemoria, 12 April - 10 June. |
| 2020-21 | Venice, Palazzo Leoni Montanari, Futuro. Arte e società dagli anni Sessanta a domani, 3 October 2020 - 7 February 2021, col. repr. pp. 52, 53; edition Collezione Intesa Sanpaolo. |
| 2022 | Paris, Librairie Marian Goodman, Giulio Paolini. Printed Editions and Multiples (1967-1977), 6 October - 26 November; edition 27/50. |
| 2023 | Milan, Libreria Antiquaria Pontremoli, Arte Povera, 16 February - 2 March, col. repr. pp. 57 (numbering), 58-59, entry by R. Colombo and C. Lietti p. 57; edition 3/50. |
| • | G. Paolini in conversation with C. Lonzi, in C. Lonzi, Autoritratto (Bari: De Donato Editore, 1969), pp. 201-202; reprint (Milan: et al./Edizioni, 2010), p. 152. |
| • | G. Paolini, “Un libro è un libro”, in Libro / Opera. Viaggio nelle pagine d'artista. La collezione di Danilo Montanari / A journey into the artist's pages. Danilo Montanari's collection, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, Aula Magna della Biblioteca Universitaria (Ravenna: Danilo Montanari Editore, 2011), p. 45, in Italian and English. |
| • | P. Fossati, “Giulio Paolini. Ciò che non ha limiti e che per la sua stessa natura non ammette limitazioni di sorta”, in Quindici 19, no. 19 (Turin), August, 1969, p. 6, not repr. |
| • | G. Celant, “Book as artwork 1960/1970”, in Data 1, no. 1 (Milan), September, 1971, pp. 41-42, repr. no. 4 p. 41; republished in Id., Book as Artwork 1960-1972, exhibition catalogue, London, Nigel Greenwood Inc. Ltd., 1972, p. 17; reprint (New York: Six Decades Books, 2010. |
| • | G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), pp. 83-84, repr. no. 74 pp. 78-79; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019). |
| • | G. Celant, ”Image of the image” in Art and artists 9, no. 98 (London), May, 1974, p. 17, not repr.; republished in Id., Senza titolo 1974 (Rome: Bulzoni, 1976), p. 261, not repr. |
| • | I. Calvino, “La squadratura”, in G. Paolini, Idem (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1975), p. XIII, repr. pp. 32-33, new edition (Milan: Electa, 2023), p. 15, repr. pp. 58-59. |
| • | G. Celant, Offmedia. Nuove tecniche artistiche: video disco libro (Bari: Dedalo libri, 1977), p. 143, repr. no. 73 p. 116; passage on the work republished in Attraverso l'arte italiana del '900. Opere da una Collezione privata, exhibition catalogue, Foligno, Fondazione Malvina Menegaz per le Arti e le Culture (Foligno: Edizioni Viaindustriae, 2012), p. 233, repr. p. 232. |
| • | Identité Italienne. L’art en Italie depuis 1959, exhibition catalogue, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou (Florence: Centro Di, 1981), p. 261 (extract from G. Celant, “Book as artwork 1960/1970”, in Data 1, no. 1 [Milan], 1971), repr. |
| • | A. Mammì, I. Panicelli, “Biografia”, in Giulio Paolini. La Casa di Lucrezio, exhibition catalogue, Spoleto, XXVII Festival dei Due Mondi, Palazzo Rosari Spada (Casalecchio di Reno: Grafis Edizioni, 1984), p. 13, not repr. |
| • | G. Paolini, Suspense. Breve storia del vuoto in tredici stanze (Florence: Hopeful Monster editore, 1988), repr. pp. 224-225. |
| • | G. Joppolo, Arte povera, Actualité des arts plastiques 76 (Paris: Centre National de Documentation Pédagogique, 1988), repr. p. 17. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. “Una collezione ‘60/’80” (Milan: Studio Marconi, 1990), repr. p. 67. |
| • | Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 3, repr. |
| • | Dal Seicento al Novecento. I palazzi di via Santa Teresa, sede a Torino della Banca Commerciale Italiana (Turin: Banca Commerciale Italiana and Umberto Allemandi & C., 1995), repr. p. 138. |
| • | G. Celant, “Giulio Paolini. L’infinito finito”, in Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), p. 95, not repr. |
| • | L. Dematteis, G. Maffei, Libri d’artista in Italia 1960-1998 (Turin: Regione Piemonte, 1998), cat. no. 2082 p. 178, repr. p. 57. |
| • | Giulio Paolini 1960-72, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 270, col. repr. pp. 264-265. |
| • | G. Maffei, Arte Povera 1966-1980. Libri e documenti / Books and documents (Mantua: Edizioni Corraini, 2007), pp. 122-123, col. repr. |
| • | G.M. Accame, “Pagine di connessione”, in Vertigo. Il secolo di arte off-media dal Futurismo al Web, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, MAMbo Museo d’Arte Moderna di Bologna (Milan: Skira editore, 2007), p. 257, not repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 147 p. 166, not repr. |
| • | F. Pola, “Intersezioni e sconfinamenti. Luoghi di una identità plurale”, in Torino sperimentale 1959-1969. Una storia della cronaca: il sistema delle arti come avanguardia, edited by L.M. Barbero (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2010), p. 431, repr. p. 442. |
| • | M. Codognato, “Pagine d’artista”, in Arte povera 2011, exhibition catalogue, Bologna, MAMbo Museo d’Arte Moderna (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011), p. 598, repr. no. 474 p. 596. |
| • | I. Splendorini, “Apocryphie, tautologie et vertige de la multiplication. Se una notte d’inverno un viaggiatore et l’œuvre de Giulio Paolini”, in Italies. Revue d’études italiennes 16 (Aix-en-Provence), Autumn, 2012, pp. 342-344, col. repr. p. 343. |
| • | L’arte moderna in Intesa Sanpaolo. L’ultimo novecento, edited by C. Pirovano and F. Tedeschi (Milan: Intesa Sanpaolo and Mondadori Electa, 2013), col. repr. no. 348 p. 218 (entry by F. Tedeschi). |
| • | Anni Settanta. La rivoluzione nei linguaggi dell’arte, edited by C. Casero and E. Di Raddo (Milan: Postmediabooks, 2015), repr. p. 173. |
| • | M. Minini, Scritti (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2021), p. 343, not repr. |
| • | L. Cantone, “Con un catalogo ai piedi del letto. Ingresso nell’Archivio di Francesco Federico Cerruti”, in La Collezione Cerruti. Catalogo generale, edited by C. Christov-Bakargiev, vol. 1 (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 2021), p. 115, not repr. |
| • | On Collecting Artists’ Books. The Liliana Dematteis Collection at the Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art , edited by M. Gazzotti (Mantua: Corraini Edizioni, 2023), col. repr. p. 95. |
Entry by Bettina Della Casa and Maddalena Disch, 15/07/2024
