La voiture Lenoir, 1976
GPE-0023
Lithograph
50 x 69.2 cm
Titled, signed and dated on the recto: “La voiture Lenoir” (below the image), “Giulio Paolini 1976” (bottom right)
Autograph numbering on the recto, bottom left
99 in Arabic numerals from 1/99 to 99/99
30 in Roman numerals from I/XXX to XXX/XXX
Fiat Immagine, Turin
The print was commissioned from the artist by the advertising office of the automobile manufacturer Fiat, Turin, through Oddone Camerana, from 1976 to 1994 head of advertising, image, and communication for the Fiat, Lancia, and Alfa Romeo brands.
Folder unknown. All that has been attested to is an acetate sheet of the same size as the print, with an anonymous text printed on it.
Anonymous text, ”La voiture Lenoir” (1860) rivista da Paolini (1976), with mention of the edition size, biographical profile of the artist, and historical facts about the Lenoir automobile.
The double image, to the left in positive, to the right in negative, reproduces the project of the Hippomobile, a three-wheeled vehicle fitted with the first internal combustion engine, patented in 1862 by the Belgian-French engineer Étienne Lenoir.
The key to interpretation lies in the words in autograph calligraphy below the image: “La voiture” corresponding to the first reproduction, “Lenoir” corresponding to the second. By joining the French noun designating the car (La voiture), with the name of its inventor (Lenoir) and the colour black (le noir) of the print in negative, the artist generates an elegant calembour, a verbal-visual game that is a personal reinterpretation of the pioneering “Lenoir car”.
| 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. 23). |
| 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. 23). |
| 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. 23). |
| 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. 23). |
| 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. 23). |
| • | Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 23, repr. (artist’s proof). |
