Suite n. 4, 2006
GPE-0115
Suite No. 4
Lithograph and collage
Plate 33 x 33 cm folded, 92 x 92 cm open
Titled and signed on the recto: “Suite n. 4” (bottom centre), “Giulio Paolini” (bottom right)
Autograph numbering on the recto, bottom left
90 in Arabic numerals from 1/90 to 90/90
30 in Roman numerals from I/XXX to XXX/XXX
Danilo Montanari Editore, Ravenna
Grafiche Morandi, Fusignano (Ravenna)
The print was produced by Danilo Montanari Editore, Ravenna, on the occasion of the solo exhibition of Paolini’s work titled L’autore sconosciuto (The Unknown Artist – L’auteur inconnu). Giulio Paolini held at the Marian Goodman as well as the Yvon Lambert galleries, at both of their venues in New York and Paris. The title of the portfolio reproduces that of the text, drafted for the occasion, titled L’autore sconosciuto. Art happens.
Double-sided three-flap white card stock folder, closed format 35 x 35 cm; cover with titles in black (author, title [“L’autore sconosciuto / Art happens”], publisher). Contains the folded plate, four bi-folios with a text by the artist – respectively in Italian (in the first two), French (in the third), and English (in the fourth) – and the colophon (at the end of the text in Italian).
Includes information regarding edition size, printer, publisher, and date of printing (September 2006).
Text by the artist, L’autore sconosciuto. Art happens, on his thoughts about art, and in closing a reference to the exhibition project presented in 2006 at the Yvon Lambert and Marian Goodman galleries, in their respective locations in Paris and New York.
The lithograph can be framed in a common black frame, or in a square plexiglas case measuring a minimum of 96 x 96 cm (the case can also be larger, with enough breathing space all around the sheet). The frame or case must be straight with respect to the sheet.
The unfolded sheet turned on its side so that it resembles a diamond features a drawn square, which frames a sheet of graph paper that is smaller and applied by collage, and, in turn, features the outline of a square. Inside the latter, a drawing in perspective represents a double frame, outlining a composition of squares and rhombuses. The centre of the composition, as well as the ensemble, is emphasized by the image of a black pencil, while two intersecting dotted lines define the median axes. The folds in the sheet correspond to the diagonals of the sequence of squares; their intersection point coincides with the centre, marked by the tip of the pencil.
By way of the variation on the theme of the square and the rhombus, the print seems to chase after itself, as the title suggests. Strictly speaking, the term “suite”, borrowed from a glossary of musical terms, refers to the alternating rhythms of the various motifs, joined in a single piece; broadly speaking, it refers to the semantic field of the sequence and the succession, the rotation and the concatenation.
The numbering in the title refers to several previous works, all of which connoted by a sort of "pursuit" and doubling of the elements at play (cf. among the paintings Suite n. 1, 1974, GPO-0277, and Suite n. 3, among the prints Suite n. 2, 1975, GPE-0018, and Suite n. 3, 1976, GPE-0022).
The print was also used as the formal and thematic nucleus of a large-scale work having the same title, made during the same period (GPO-0946).
The original collage on which the image on graph paper originates is documented in the online Catalogue Raisonné of works on paper at number GPC-2054. The same motif can be found in a variant in an untitled work on paper from the same period (GPC-1763).
| 2006-07 | New York, Yvon Lambert Gallery, L’autore sconosciuto (The Unknown Artist – L’auteur inconnu). Giulio Paolini, 14 December 2006 - 13 January 2007. |
| 2006-07 | New York, Marian Goodman Gallery, L’autore sconosciuto (The Unknown Artist – L’auteur inconnu). Giulio Paolini, 14 December 2006 - 13 January 2007. |
| 2006-07 | Paris, Galerie Yvon Lambert, L’autore sconosciuto (The Unknown Artist – L’auteur inconnu). Giulio Paolini, 14 December 2006 - 27 January 2007. |
| 2006-07 | Parigi, Galerie Marian Goodman, L’autore sconosciuto (The Unknown Artist – L’auteur inconnu). Giulio Paolini, 14 December 2006 - 27 January 2007. |
| 2007 | Milan, Giò Marconi, Giulio Paolini, 4 May - 27 July. |
| 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. 164. |
| 2013 | Ravenna, Aula Magna della Biblioteca Classense, Una biblioteca d'artista. La collezione e le edizioni di libri d'artista di Danilo Montanari, 4 May - 1 June, not repr. |
| 2019 | Paris, Librairie Marian Goodman, Giulio Paolini, 15 March - 22 May. |
| 2023 | Paris, 44 Boulevard de la Bastille, Le droit à l’oubli, Musée Transitoire, 16-22 October 2023, no catalogue; edition IV/XXX. |
| • | G. Paolini, Quattro passi. Nel museo senza muse (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 2006), pp. 43-44, repr. p. 43 (detail). |
