La Perspective pratique, 1977
GPE-0028
Lithograph
65 x 48 cm
Signed and dated on the recto, bottom right: “Giulio Paolini 1977”
Autograph numbering on the recto, bottom left
100 in Arabic numerals from 1/100 to 100/100
Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim
The print was produced by the Mannheimer Kunstverein, Mannheim on the occasion of the solo exhibition of Paolini’s work from 31 July to 28 August 1977, as the annual print edition (”Jahresgabe”) for 1977, destined for sale to support its activities.
The seventeenth-century image, taken from the title-page of a handbook on perspective (hence the French title in the scroll at the top “La Perspective pratique”, The Practical Perspective), represents the painter seated at his easel, intent on painting, assisted by Minerva, the Greek goddess of art, ingeniousness, and wisdom, who can be recognized by her attributes (a helmet, cuirass, shield, and spear). With respect to the original source, in which the painter can be seen painting the perspectival view shown by the putto at the lower left, Paolini has replaced the painting on the easel with the replica of the faces of the painter and Minerva, and has added a white trapezoidal surface so as to suggest the visual cone of an observer in the background.
The painter and Minerva who look at their own image as they witness the becoming of an image intersect the viewer's gaze coming from the outside, who is in turn intent on observing the painting in fieri. The artist's and the viewer's gazes become interchangeable; their identities correspond.
The original collage on which the print is based is documented in the digital Catalogue Raisonné of the works on paper at number GPC-0450.
Image from Pierre Descargues, Traités de perspective (Paris: Editions du Chêne, 1976), p. 96 (Jean Du Breuil, “La Perspective practique: nécessaire à tous peintres, graveurs, sculpteurs, architectes, orfèvres, brodeurs, tapissiers, & autres se servans du dessein”, 1642).
| 1977 | Mannheim, Mannheimer Kunstverein, Giulio Paolini, 31 July - 28 August, repr. p. 2. |
| 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. 27). |
| 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. 27). |
| 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. 27). |
| 1996 | Nice, Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Arte Povera. Les multiples, 23 March - 16 June, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 38, repr. p. 24. |
| 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. 27). |
| 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. 27). |
| • | G. Celant, “Giulio Paolini: l’opera d’arte si guardò nello specchio”, in La Repubblica (Rome), 7-8 August 1977, p. 12, repr. |
| • | 50 rue de Varenne, Italian-French supplement to the magazine Nuovi Argomenti 20 (Paris-Milan: Istituto Italiano di Cultura and Arnoldo Mondadori Editore), December, 1986, repr. p. 8 (among the images of unrelated works curated by the artist upon invitation by the Publisher). |
| • | Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 27, repr. |
