Eclat, 1986
GPE-0056
Lithograph
49 x 65 cm
Signed and dated on the recto, bottom right: “Giulio Paolini 1986”
Autograph numbering on the recto, bottom left
70 in Arabic numerals from 1/70 to 70/70
30 in Roman numerals from I/XXX to XXX/XXX
Elcat S.p.a., Rivoli
Marco Noire Editore, Turin
The print was commissioned from the artist by the Gruppo Melfin/Elcat (Gruppo di Progettazione e Costruzione Componenti di Carrozzerie Autoveicoli), Cascine Vica (Turin) – the President, Luigi Brandoli, was a longtime friend of the artist – as part of a series of graphic editions whose purpose was to familiarize the world of industry with contemporary Italian artists. Paolini's work is the third publication in the series dedicated to Italian art in the 1980s.
Double-sided grey cardboard folder, blue spine, with blue ribbon ties, on the inside boards three blue round elements to cover the ends of the ribbons, closed format 50 x 70 cm. Contains the plate and a sheet that serves as a title-page, with a note by the artist and the publisher's logo (on the recto), and the colophon (on the verso).
Includes information regarding the context of production, artist's biography, edition size, printer, and date of printing (1986).
• Note by the artist on the title-page defining the French noun “éclat”, taken from a dictionary and “rectified” with the addition of the meaning as an anagram for the company name “Elcat”.
• Anonymous note, included in the colophon, with indications about the context of the print edition and biographical note of the artist.
The drawing harkens back to the design of the logo of the Elcat company, for which the print was made. In the right half, inside the lozenge the same drawing is repeated mirror-like and in a smaller size; inside the latter, and inside the small lozenge, the duplication continues by way of a small square, which suggests a potentially unlimited multiplication. The sides of the triangle and of the lozenge become the visual rays of two male figures wearing seventeenth-century costumes (the figure itself, taken from a handbook about perspective, is repeated mirror-like and proportionally reduced), intent on observing and drawing, as suggested by the hand holding a pen (borrowed from another ancient source). Each figure seems to look and outline the logo itself, which through progressive multiplication is reduced to a vanishing point.
The French title Eclat – an anagram of the company name Elcat – has several meanings among which that of shard, fragment, and luminosity, splendour. The same title was used soon afterwards, in 1987, for a large-scale work (GPO-0611).
The figure of the seated viewer appeared for the first time in 1984, in several works on paper (cf. GPC-0656, GPC-1649) and in the multiple Nove particolari in due tempi (GPE-0050).
• Figure from Pierre Descargues, Traités de perspective, Editions du Chêne (Paris: 1976), p. 102 (Abraham Bosse, “Les perspecteurs”).
• Image of the hand from Denis Diderot, Jean Baptiste Le Rond d’Alembert, Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Recueil de planches sur les sciences, les arts libéraux et les arts méchaniques, avec leur explication. Seconde livraison, en deux parties. Première partie (Paris: 1763), p. 126, plate III (“L’Art d’écrire”).
| 1988 | Zurich, Galerie Annemarie Verna, Giulio Paolini. Sotto le stelle, 22 April - 4 June. |
| 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. 57). |
| 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. 57). |
| 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. 57). |
| 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. 57). |
| 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. 57). |
| 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, repr. p. 61. |
| 2019 | Turin, Noire Gallery, Giulio Paolini. Promemoria, 12 April - 10 June; artist’s proof. |
| 2019 | Boston, Krakow Witkin Gallery, Giulio Paolini: 1983-2010, 21 September - 2 November; artist’s proof. |
| • | Il colore dei miracoli, exhibition catalogue, Radda in Chianti, Castello di Volpaia, 1987, repr. n. pag. (advertising page for the company Gruppo Elcat). |
| • | Arca, exhibition catalogue, Radda in Chianti, Castello di Volpaia, 1989, pp. [146-147], repr. (double advertising page for the company Gruppo Elcat). |
| • | Metafore. Gianni Kounellis e Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Galleria dell’Oca, 1991, repr. n. pag. |
| • | G. Dorfles, Intervista come autopresentazione. Con VII tavole di Giulio Paolini (Siracusa: Tema Celeste Edizioni, 1992), repr. on cover. |
| • | Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 57, repr. (edition 51/70). |
| • | G. Paolini, La verità in quattro righe e novantacinque voci, edited by S. Risaliti (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1996), repr. as a faded background image to the entry for "Accademia" pp. 16-17. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Von heute bis gestern / Da oggi a ieri, exhibition catalogue, Graz, Neue Galerie im Landesmuseum Joanneum (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 1998), repr. p. 280. |
| • | La seduzione del luogo (Rome: Zeryinthia Associazione per l’Arte Contemporanea, 2007), repr. p. 22. |
| • | Carte Noire. Noire Editions 1980/2015 (Cologne: Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2016), col. repr. n. pag. (edition XXVIII/XXX). |
