Hotel Continental (Le Monde invisible), 1973
GPE-0011
Photo print, plexiglas sheet, stone
Photograph 18 x 12 cm, sheet 45 x 30 cm
Signed, titled and dated on the verso of the photograph: “Giulio Paolini / Hotel Continental / (Le monde invisible) / 1973”
Autograph numbering on the verso of the photograph, bottom centre
9 in Arabic numerals from 1/9 to 9/9
Self-produced by the artist
The edition should be arranged on a white plinth measuring 80 x 60 x 60 cm, with a protective plexiglas case measuring 40 x 60 x 60 cm. The photograph should not be placed directly on the support surface, but rather on a plexiglas sheet measuring 45 x 30 cm and it must be held down by a second similar sheet. The photograph must be slightly askew with respect to the sides of the plinth, akin to the image itself. The stone should be placed on top of the transparent sheet with the photograph underneath it so that it corresponds to the stone depicted in the image.
A photograph of the painting by René Magritte Le Monde invisible (1954) portraying a large stone in front of a window open onto the sea, is held down by a plexiglas sheet. A real stone is placed in the same area as the photographic one, so as to partially conceal the image.
Paolini's stone-object that hides Magritte's stone-image doubles the gesture of the visual concealment, offsetting the perspectival view announced by the open window. Just as Magritte's stone prevents the gaze from going beyond the window, Paolini's stone holds back the vision on the threshold that divides the material reality from the artifices of the representation.
The expression “Hotel Continental” refers to a personal experience of the artist, who just a few months earlier, on the occasion of a trip to Naples, stayed at the Hotel Continental: the room overlooking the sea reminded him of Magritte's painting, hence the association between the two moments in the title of the print.
René Magritte, Le Monde invisible, 1954, oil on canvas, 195 x 130 cm, The Menil Collection, Houston.
| 1974 | Naples, Modern Art Agency, Giulio Paolini. Idem (III), from 26 January. |
| 1976 | Florence, Galleria Area, Giulio Paolini, from 10 April. |
| 1976 | Verbania, Museo del Paesaggio, Aptico. Il senso della scultura. IIa Biennale internazionale di scultura contemporanea di Verbania-Pallanza, 11 July - 15 September, cited in the checklist of exhibited works on the rear flap of the dustjacket; repr. p. 59. |
| 1977 | Mannheim, Mannheim Kunstverein, Giulio Paolini, 31 July - 28 August, not repr. |
| 1986 | Frankfurt, Frankfurter Kunstverein, 1960-1985. Aspekte der italienischen Kunst, from 17 January, touring to: Berlin, Haus am Waldsee, March - April; Hannover, Kunstverein Hannover, May - June; Bregenz, Bregenzer Kunstverein, Künstlerhaus Thurn und Taxis, July - August; Vienna, Hochschule für angewandte Kunst, September - October, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 142, col. repr. p. 36 (incorrect installation); edition 2/9. |
| 1991 | Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Palazzo Forti, Da Magritte a Magritte, 6 July - 20 October, col. repr. p. 244. |
| 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. 11). |
| 1992-93 | Paris, Galerie Di Meo, Giulio Paolini. Œuvres de 1963 à 1978, 27 November 1992 - 30 January 1993, cited in the checklist of exhibited works p. 67, col. repr. p. 45. |
| 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. 11). |
| 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. 11). |
| 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. 11). |
| 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. 11). |
| 2001 | Milan, Association Jacqueline Vodoz et Bruno Danese, Impressions Graphiques. L’opera grafica di Giulio Paolini, 1967-2000, 17 May - 22 June, not repr. |
| 2006 | Bergamo, GAMeC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Giulio Paolini. Fuori programma, 6 April - 16 July, col. repr. pp. 62-63, 64 (exhibition views), 66. |
| 2008 | Carrara, Accademia di Carrara, Aula Magna, XIII Biennale Internazionale di Scultura di Carrara. Nient’altro che scultura, 27 July - 28 September, col. repr. p. 56 (exhibition view Bergamo 2006). |
| 2012-13 | Rome, Erica Ravenna Arte Contemporanea, Dalla realtà alla profondità, 26 October 2012 - 31 January 2013, col. repr. n. pag.; edition 5/9. |
| • | 1960-1985. Aspekte der italienischen Kunst, exhibition catalogue, Frankfurt, Frankfurter Kunstverein (Milan: Edizioni Gabriele Mazzotta, 1986), col. repr. p. 36 (incorrect display). |
| • | Da Magritte à Magritte, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Palazzo Forti (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta editore, 1991), col. repr. p. 244. |
| • | Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 11, col. repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. Fuori programma, exhibition catalogue, Bergamo, GAMeC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2006), col. repr. pp. 62, 66. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 2 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 658 p. 674, not repr. |
| • | Giulio Paolini. A come Accademia, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Accademia Nazionale di San Luca (Rome: Gangemi Editore, 2023), col. repr. p. 247 (exhibition view Bergamo 2006). |
| • | L. Balbi, “Copia e originale”, in Giulio Paolini. Et in Arcadia ego, exhibition catalogue, Verona, Galleria d’Arte Moderna Achille Forti (Imola: Manfredi Edizioni, 2024), p. 56, col. repr. (edition 2/9). |
