Trionfo della rappresentazione, 1984
GPE-0051
Triumph of Representation
Lithograph and collage
72 x 92 cm
Signed on the recto, bottom right: “Giulio Paolini”
Autograph numbering on the recto, bottom left
100 in Arabic numerals from 1/100 to 100/100
15 in Roman numerals from I/X to X/X
Studio Marconi, Milan
The print was produced by Studio Marconi, Milan, on the occasion of the fourth solo show of Paolini's work, inaugurated on 9 February 1984. The exhibition included, on the second floor of the gallery, the site-specific work with the same title, Trionfo della rappresentazione, 1983-84 (GPO-0507).
A pair of male figures in livery, contained inside a drawn rectangle, present the drawing in perspective of a room, with several paintings on the walls and a second pair of figures, identical to the first, which in turn hold a torn image of the sun setting on the sea. Other fragments of the same image of the sea and of several plaster pieces, applied with collage, are dispersed, falling randomly across the entire extension of the sheet.1
The key to interpretation lies in the optical contraposition of two antithetical dynamics: on the one hand, the illusory spatiality generated by the perspectival construction, which projects the gaze in depth, towards a distant vanishing point towards infinity; on the other, the dispersion of the torn fragments on the surface of the sheet, emphasized via their application with collage, which brings the gaze back to the picture plane.
Converging in the two polarities that determine the contents of the print are two research strands begun by the artist in 1983 and continued throughout that decade: on the one hand, the cycle of works titled Cythère (cf. GPO-0483), on the other the thematic series titled Trionfo della rappresentazione (cf. GPO-0507, and among the prints the portfolio with the same title made in 1986, GPE-0058).
1 The torn image reproduces the photograph taken for the poster and the cover of the catalogue of the solo show held at the Studio Marconi, Milan, in February 1984, on the occasion of which the print was made. The photograph illustrates the sea at sunset, held down by a glass sheet broken in the middle, on top of which numerous plaster fragments are scattered so that they gradually thin out from the epicentre of the fragmentation towards the exterior.
| 1986 | Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Giulio Paolini, 20 September - 2 November, vol. 4 La visione / Die Vision, cited in the checklist of exhibited works no. 49 p. 53, not 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. 52). |
| 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. 52). |
| 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. 52). |
| 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. 52). |
| 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. 52). |
| 2001 | Milan, Association Jacqueline Vodoz et Bruno Danese, Impressions Graphiques. L’opera grafica di Giulio Paolini, 1967-2000, 17 May - 22 June, not repr. |
| 2002 | Paris, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Impressions graphiques. L’œuvre graphique de Giulio Paolini 1967-2000, 23 April - 21 May, no catalogue. |
| 2008-09 | Siegen, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Blickmaschinen oder wie Bilder entstehen. Die zeitgenössische Kunst schaut auf die Sammlung Werner Nekes, 23 November 2008 - 10 May 2009, touring to: Budapest, Kunsthalle Budapest and C3 Center for Culture & Communication Foundation (Pillanatgépek), 20 June - 23 August 2009; Siviglia, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (Máquinas de Mirar), 17 September - 22 November 2009, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 289, col. repr. p. 14; edition VI/XV. |
| 2011-12 | Milan, Fondazione Marconi, Grafica, 29 November - 14 January, no catalogue. |
| 2013-14 | Milan, Fondazione Marconi, Studio Marconi ’65, Opere grafiche internazionali, 29 November 2013 - 11 January 2014, col. repr. no. 135 p. 52; edition 17/100. |
| 2020-21 | Milan, Galleria Giò Marconi, Arte moltiplicata. Grafiche, multipli, libri d’artista…, 3 December 2020 - 30 March 2021. |
| • | G. Paolini, “È l’opera, adesso…”, in Furor 12 (Geneva), October, 1984, n. pag. |
| • | G. Paolini, “Trionfo della rappresentazione”, in Furor 12 (Geneva), October, 1984, repr. no. 13. |
| • | Lithographies, gravures, livres 1988 (Paris: Galerie Lelong, 1987), n. pag., col. repr. p. 72. |
| • | Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 52, col. repr. (artist’s proof). |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 507 p. 518, not repr. |
