Solitaire, 1975
GPE-0016
Lithograph
70 x 50 cm
Titled, signed and dated on the recto: “Solitaire” (bottom centre), “Giulio Paolini 1975” (bottom right)
Autograph numbering on the recto, bottom left
100 in Arabic numerals from 1/100 to 100/100
30 in Roman numerals from I/XXX to XXX/XXX
Studio Marconi, Milan
Tipostampa, Turin
The print is part of a portfolio produced by Studio Marconi, Milan, on the occasion of the group show Fotomedia held at the Rotonda della Besana, Milan, from 24 March to 13 April 1975. The portfolio includes lithographs by the twelve artists participating in the show: Vincenzo Agnetti, Carlo Massimo Asnaghi, Gianni Bertini, Bruno Di Bello, Ketty La Rocca, Elio Mariani, Giulio Paolini, Claudio Parmiggiani, Luca Patella, Mario Schifano, Aldo Tagliaferro, and Franco Vaccari.
The print was originally contained, along with eleven other lithographs, in a plastic pocket, with no accessory sheets.
The black and white photographic image represents at the centre a hand holding a rectangular white surface – as if it were a playing card – in turn inscribed in a second blank square, held down by another hand.
The French title Solitaire is a reference to the card game of the same name, for one player, expressed by the artist tautologically: the hand is limited to present the gesture of showing, without revealing anything; the playing card has no image on it, the sheet is (still) untouched.
The motif of the hand showing a blank surface was used in numerous formulations developed on paper between 1968 (cf. GPC-0139) and 1979 (cf. in particular GPC-0139, GPC-0388).
The original collage made in 1974 on which the print is based is documented in the online Catalogue Raisonné of the works on paper at number GPC-0354.
Background image from the advertising for Kodak film, in L’Europeo 30, no. 29, 18 July 1974, pp. 78-79.
| 1979 | Athens, Jean & Karen Bernier, Giulio Paolini, 9 May - 5 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. 16). |
| 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. 16). |
| 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. 16). |
| 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. 16). |
| 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. 16). |
| 2000-01 | Bologna, Studio G7, Giulio Paolini. Opere Grafiche, 16 December 2000 - 20 January 2001. |
| 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. |
| 2002 | Milan, Galleria Milano, Arte in Fotomedia. Una mostra storica, 15 October - 23 November, repr. n. pag. |
| 2004 | Copenhagen, The Royal Library, The Gallery, The Significance of Visibility, 27 May - 15 August, no catalogue. |
| 2005 | Bologna, Studio G7, Rigorosamente bianco e nero, 15 May - 30 June. |
| 2010-11 | Turin, Galleria Giorgio Persano, Geografia senza punti cardinali. La fotografia nell’arte degli anni ’70 in Italia, 6 November 2010 - 29 January 2011, repr. no. 45 p. 64. |
| 2014 | Bologna, Studio G7, Giulio Paolini. Opera grafica e collage, 20 September - 15 November. |
| 2022 | Paris, Librairie Marian Goodman, Giulio Paolini. Printed Editions and Multiples (1967-1977), 6 October - 26 November; artist’s proof. |
| • | Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 16, repr. (artist’s proof). |
| • | Divina Mimesis. Un omaggio di Giulio Paolini, Rosemarie Trockel e Cy Twombly a Italo Calvino, Elsa Morante e Pier Paolo Pasolini, exhibition catalogue, Rome, Villa Poniatowski, 2005, repr. p. 23 (artist’s proof). |
| • | C. Blumenfeld, “On naît artiste, on ne le devient pas”, in The Art Newspaper 48 (Paris, French edition), January, 2023, repr. p. 27 (edition 3/100). |
