Double Page, 1977
GPE-0027
Photo-lithograph
Plate 37 x 26.5 cm folded, 37 x 53 cm open
No additional inscriptions by the artist in addition to signature, title and date printed at bottom centre
No numbering
Edition size unknown, unnumbered
Galerie Annemarie Verna, Zurich
The print is part of the series Double page curated and produced by the Galerie Annemarie Verna, Zurich. Consisting of a bi-folio with an intervention on the double-page inside, as the title says, the series includes six issues, conceived by artists represented by the gallery: 1. Sol LeWitt (January 1976), 2. Giorgio Griffa (December 1976), 3. Giulio Paolini (September 1977), 4. Richard Nonas (March 1979), 5. Richard Tuttle (April 1979), 6. Marco Gastini (September 1980).
Double-sided white cardboard folder, closed format 37 x 26.5 cm; cover with titles in black (title, number of the series, imprint date, author, publisher). Contains the folded plate.
The enigmatic cryptography transcribes in large square letters the author (red), title (gold), and date (blue) of the work itself; the same text is repeated in autograph calligraphy at the bottom centre in the same colours: "Giulio Paolini Double Page 1977”. The expression in French in the title, "Double page", also refers to the format of the sheet.
The relationship between the two writings – the one in autograph calligraphy and the one that is practically illegible – generates a paradox. While the former limits itself to repeating the biographical data of the print, the latter creates an enigmatic drawing and a varied chromatic path. The writing, which is tautological in its content, becomes an image that escapes immediate deciphering. Between the two moments, albeit manifest in their communicative evidence, remains a gap, a void of meaning, which questions the relationship between writing and image.
The print is part of a series of cryptographies developed on canvas and on paper in 1976-1977 (among the versions on canvas cf. GPO-0343, GPO-0347, among those on paper GPC-0416, GPC-0420, GPC-0423, GPC-0448). The theme of the cryptography surfaced in 1972, on canvas and on paper, with the first examples of names written in square letters (cf. among the paintings GPO-0242, and among the works on paper GPC-0771).
| 1989 | Turin, Salone del Libro, Impressions graphiques. Progetti e collaborazioni editoriali di Giulio Paolini, 12-18 May, cat. no. 5 (section “Edizioni a tiratura numerata”), not repr. |
| 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. 25). |
| 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. 25). |
| 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. 25). |
| 1996 | Turin, Galleria Martano, Artists’ Books, 8 May - 10 June, cited in the checklist of exhibited works n. pag., not repr. |
| 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. 25). |
| 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. 25). |
| 2002 | Modena, Biblioteca civica d’arte Luigi Poletti, Giulio Paolini. Pagine, 20 September - 23 November, col. repr. p. 32 (caption p. 91). |
| 2004 | Amsterdam, Galerie A / Harry Ruhé, Anselmo, Boetti, Calzolari, Chiari, Costa, De Maria, Desiato, Fontana, Kounellis, Mattiacci, Merz, Miccini, Munari, Paolini, Pistoletto, Rotella, Spagnulo, Zorio, 12 June - 15 July. |
| 2006 | Rivoli, Castello di Rivoli Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Libri Books Bücher, 29 April - 30 July, no catalogue. |
| 2023 | Milan, Libreria Antiquaria Pontremoli, Arte Povera, 16 February - 2 March, col. repr. p. 69, entry by R. Colombo and C. Lietti pp. 69-70. |
| • | G. Paolini, “Una crittografia...”, in Impressions graphiques. L'opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 25. |
| • | F. Poli, Giulio Paolini (Turin: Lindau, 1990), repr. no. 30 p. 34. |
| • | Impressions graphiques. L’opera grafica 1967-1992 di Giulio Paolini (Turin: Marco Noire Editore, 1992), cat. no. 25, col. repr., with note by the artist Una crittografia… |
| • | L. Dematteis, G. Maffei, Libri d’artista in Italia 1960-1998 (Turin: Regione Piemonte, 1998), cat. no. 2087 p. 178, not repr. |
| • | G. Maffei, Arte Povera 1966-1980. Libri e documenti / Books and documents (Mantua: Edizioni Corraini, 2007), p. 133, col. repr. |
| • | M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 347 p. 358, not repr. |
